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by snakemittens



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Attempt at Humor, Blow Jobs, Blue Exorcist References, Body Worship, Bungou Stray Dogs References, Come Swallowing, Conventions, Cuddling & Snuggling, Famous Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Feel-good, Fluff, Free! References, Gamer Eren Yeager, Gamer Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Haikyuu!! References, Hand Jobs, Hunter x Hunter References, M/M, Manga & Anime, Morning Cuddles, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Possible Anime Spoilers, Sailor Moon References, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Soul Eater References, Spirited Away References, Switch Eren Yeager, Switch Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Switching, YouTube, Yuri!!! on Ice References, possible manga spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-02
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-10-13 20:23:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 62,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10521162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snakemittens/pseuds/snakemittens
Summary: Eren Jeager, an up and coming gamer on YouTube, is invited to attend SurveyCon. There, he plans to meet up with online friends and even get a chance to be in the same room with his idol, Levi.Levi is a YouTube gaming star and is coming out with his own video game, Attack on Titan. The company he works for decides to feature his video game at a brand new convention called SurveyCon. They invite plenty of online gamers to participate in the convention including a spritely young gamer with a channel called 'HumanitysHope'.





	1. Hope & Strength

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everybody! I hope you're having a fantastic first day of the second season of Attack on Titan! To celebrate, I'm publishing this (not so) little story I've been working on inspired by [Click on my Heart](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4194519/chapters/9474543) by [CocoaChoux](http://archiveofourown.org/users/CocoaChoux/pseuds/CocoaChoux) and with the help of [The_Raven](http://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Raven/pseuds/The_Raven)  
> I'm planning on adding in lots of little chapters in between working on my other works! I hope you enjoy the fluffy/happy ride! As always, thank you for reading!
> 
> **I will note, this fic is about 90% fluff and 10% smut. It is a switch fic, so if you have a preference and don't care to read a pairing you don't like, I will be writing a little warning in the beginning notes to let you know what's going to happen in the smuttier chapters so you can decide for yourself if you'd like to skip that chapter or not!

Eren hummed a made-up tune while intently watching his computer screen. “Three, two, one… posted!” he sang, content with his latest upload. In no time at all, the views came flooding in. He had to feel a little proud, as he’d come a long way as a gaming YouTuber. It started with embarrassing play-through videos with silly commentary and became a fruitful venture. Now, gaming companies were sending him new video games before they even came out to show sneak peeks and start making video reviews. He’d recently hit one million subscribers on his main channel and didn’t plan to stop there.

His haphazard office represented the state of his mind. His desk was set up with the best computer he could afford for editing videos and playing games. His filming camera was set up on a mini tripod dangerously close to the edge of the desk. His vlogging camera sat on top of his bills. Yes, first he’d get the footage for his vlogs and _then_ he’d pay the bills. He snorted at his priorities, knowing he’d get an earful from his friends if he forgot to pay the bills but got his videos all out on time. Not like they’d know, since they were all online.

At three in the morning, he figured _someone_ had to be awake in some other time zone. He sent out texts to eight different people, waiting for some kind of response. After five minutes of waiting, he threw his head back and cursed at himself for living in such a small town where none of his friends were.

He refreshed his page and watched as the view counter went up by the thousands. All those people out there watching his video helped him feel a little less alone. The whole reason he started making videos was to find people who liked the same things he did. Little did he realize, he’d find a million.

His eyes glanced over the comments, most of them made him laugh.

_“omg marry me”_

_“YAAAS PLAY MYSTIC MESSANGER!”_

_“Collab with HumanitysStrongest!”_

‘HumanitysStrongest’, aka Levi, was the top dog in the gaming community. He started out just like Eren, putting out videos of himself playing games and commentating. He later began developing his own games for fun. Eventually, a gaming company picked him up and now he’s got a dream job making video games for a living and making YouTube videos to play through demos of new games, old games, and get suggestions from his millions of subscribers (dubbed Squad Levi) for his own game.

Eren clicked on his most recent video ‘Attack on Titan - Demo’. He promised himself he’d watch it after finishing his own video. It started off with Levi sitting at his desk with a cup of tea. He wore his RayBan glasses and wore a black shirt with a graphic from some anime Eren hadn’t seen yet. Eren laughed when he saw the Japanese writing on his beanie, which read ‘Number One Waifu’. “Oi, Squad Levi, here’s the newest demo of my game Attack on Titan. We’re going to play the first few minutes and go over some character customization. At the end, I’ve got a big announcement so hold on to your panties.”

The story of the game was incredibly fascinating. Giant, human-like titans invaded what was left of the human race and your character was a part of a team to kill the titans and solve the mystery of how to save the world. Eren leaned in until his nose almost hit the monitor; he was rapt in the gorgeous graphics and intuitive mechanics.

Levi’s success as a YouTuber inspired Eren to create his own in the first place. He even named his channel ‘HumanitysHope’ inspired by ‘HumanitysStrongest’. At first, he didn’t think his channel would go anywhere. Now, it was too late to change. It was embarrassing sometimes, but he didn’t think rebranding was a good idea yet.

Levi came back into the picture and he read off of a piece of paper, “Attack on Titan will be featured at SurveyCon, a new gaming convention held by Survey Corps. We will be sending out special invitations to active members in the gaming community to attend and interact with attendees. There, that’s what my boss wanted me to say. Get your asses to the convention and check out all the cool shit we’ve got planned. Until next time, subscribe, thumbs up, and comment. Later.”

Eren checked on plane tickets from the Midwest to the coast. He groaned at the prices and closed the tab entirely. The chances of him attending that convention were zero to none with those high-priced tickets. Eren wasn’t destitute but he sure as hell wasn’t going to spend three months of rent money on plane tickets.

He looked at the clock again. At four in the morning, he figured he should at least try to sleep. Not like he could, but then he could say he tried.

Eren crossed the studio apartment to his mattress that sat on the wood floor. He crashed into the multitude of pillows and blankets, wrapping himself up in the warmth. His phone buzzed and he glanced at it, an email from Survey Corps. He yawned and chuckled. Yeah, right, like that’d ever happen.

He blinked a few times and looked at his phone again. Email received from Survey Corps. Subject: SurveyCon Invitation.

“What?!” Eren leapt out of bed and danced around the room with his phone in hand, struggling to unlock it. “Come on, come on!” His trembling fingers refused to obey him and he kept typing in the wrong code. “1-2-3-4, come on! It’s not that hard!”

A little message popped up on the screen, letting him know he was locked out of his phone for two minutes. “What?!” he yelped again and raced to his laptop, flipping up the screen and waking it up from sleep mode. His fingers furiously tapped on the keyboard until he could pull up the email.

_HumanitysHope,_

_We here at Survey Corps would like to invite you to attend our first-time event, SurveyCon. SurveyCon is a convention aiming to bring popular gamers from online into the real world to interact with viewers. We have many events planned that we would like you to be apart of. If you choose to attend, we would also like to supply you with plane tickets and hotel reservations. Below is a list of events we wish for you to participate in:_

_Day One: Meet and Greet + Autograph Session_

_Day Two: Collaboration Gaming Competition_

_Day Three: Free Day_

_Day Four: Individual Q &A Session_

_Day Five: Group Q &A Panel_

_Day Six: Attack on Titan Demo Event_

_Day Seven: Attack on Titan Demo Event_

_Please respond to this email in 1-3 days so we can make preparations for your arrival. We hope to see you at SurveyCon!_

_Survey Corps Gaming_ _™_

Eren stared for what seemed like hours. He was invited? Really? He squealed like a little kid receiving the perfect gift on their birthday. His response couldn’t be typed out any quicker. It was one of the few times he thanked the techie gods for spell check. And a few minutes later, he got the reply with confirmation numbers for his hotel and boarding passes for the flight. Wow, that was fast. Eren stared at the email chain for a few moments, holding his breath with disbelief.

And then he fell asleep, the deep sleep that he’d been yearning for. Not one broken up by nightmares or one that came after hours of waiting. It was a simple, easy, lay-your-head-down and sleep sort of sleep.

Eren woke up early and refreshed. He threw on an old Ramones t-shirt, black skinny jeans, and got to work. First, he checked his phone and noticed his a few of his friends had finally answered his ‘it’s three in the morning and I can’t sleep’ text. He debated on telling them about SurveyCon right away, but decided to leave it as a surprise. He planned on spending the day making an announcement video and couldn’t wait to witness their shock that he got invited.

 

* * *

 

Levi jolted up from his desk. How long had he been passed out? A little puddle of drool on his desk answered that question for him: too damned long. He had a game to make and a limited amount of time to finish it up. Even with the help of his friends, he was under a time crunch. That night, he’d been able to upload a new video on time so at least that was out of the way.

“Knock, knock!” His friend Farlan burst in with two Starbucks cups in his hands. “Black coffee. Lots of caffeine. Figured you’d need it.”

Levi looked between Farlan and the coffee, took a cup, and mumbled, “Thanks. This is the part where you explain that… get-up…”

Farlan looked down at his matching Adidas jacket and sweatpants. “I’m going to work out with you today.”

“Are you now?” Levi raised an eyebrow. “Who put you up to it?”

“Erwin wanted to make sure you didn’t push yourself too hard like last time.”

“Last time was a one-time occurrence!” Levi defended himself.

Farlan held up his hands in surrender, “Hey, hey it’s cool! He just didn’t want anyone to find you passed out on the sidewalk at the park again. That’s all.”

Levi rolled his eyes and rolled his neck on his shoulders. All his muscles were stiff from sleeping at his desk. “Okay, give me a few minutes and I’ll be ready to go.”

Levi hopped into the shower and talked with Farlan over the running water. “What else did Erwin tell you to do today? Feed me? Wipe my ass for me?”

“I’ll jack you off to sleep if that’s what it takes to make sure you aren’t killing yourself over the stress of this game,” Farlan shouted. “Have you been to your therapist lately?”

Levi stopped washing his hair and sighed, “No. I did my mandatory four weeks and decided that was enough.”

“Maybe you should go back,” he suggested.

The last thing Levi wanted was another obligation that took up time he could spend coding or filming. He had enough on his plate already balancing his YouTube channel and creating Attack on Titan. Now, Erwin sprung SurveyCon on him, which presented a deadline for the game. There just wasn’t enough time for all the shit Levi had to get done.

Now he had Farlan on his back. Well, it could have been worse. Erwin could have sent Isabel or Hange over.

Levi replaced his glasses with contacts and blinked until they settled against his pupils. The bags under his eyes were dark and telling of his sleepless nights. His hair needed cut. Really, he looked like he was falling apart. Another thing added to the list: figure out how to look less dead. He threw on an old shirt, shorts, and running shoes to begin the run. They left Levi’s apartment complex and went down a familiar path through the park.

“Survey Corps sent out the invitations to SurveyCon. There has already been a ton of responses!” Farlan panted.

Levi wasn’t a big fan of talking while working out, but this was something that actually interested him. He slowed down their pace to allow for conversation. “Who responded?”

“Everyone we know, obviously. Plus some younger players like AutoBott, PvP, and HumanitysHope.”

“Wait,” Levi slowed his pace and furrowed his brow. “HumanitysHope?”

“Yeah, cute isn’t it? Named it after you, apparently.”

“Or just to piggyback off my work,” Levi muttered. He’d heard of the kid before but refused to watch any of his videos out of spite.

“I’m sure it was in good faith. He mentioned how he named it after you in a questions video he did a few years ago. Seemed embarrassed to admit that he really looked up to you.”

“So he’s going to be at SurveyCon?”

“Yeah, he was one of the first to reply apparently!”

“Perfect. I’ll be able to give him a piece of my mind there.” Levi took off running with a new fire in his soul. They made it to the gym and spent a good hour blowing off steam before running all the way back home. Farlan constantly badgered him to take it easy and not push himself too hard, which only annoyed Levi more.

It took another hour at home until Farlan finally left him alone. Levi set aside his work to pull YouTube up in a new tab and search for ‘HumanitysHope’.

He clicked on the first video titled ‘HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT’. “All caps, figures,” Levi grumbled.

A pretty face took up Levi’s screen. A pretty face with bright, green eyes and messy brown hair. He had an eyebrow piercing and used his hands when talking a lot. It was distracting, but so was his voice. “Hey guys! Eren here! I wanted to make this video to let you all know that I’ve been invited to go to SurveyCon! I have no idea what to say other than I’m so excited! I hope you can all come so we can hang out together! I’ll have more details later, but I figured I’d let you all know now!”

He blathered on a while more about possible videos he’d make before the convention and how he planned to vlog the whole thing and put it on his vlogging channel.

That got Levi curious and he clicked on a video from Eren’s vlogging channel simply named ‘Eren Jaeger’. It made Levi realize he must have created the vlogging channel after the whole Google Plus situation. A lot of the videos were from events of Eren travelling to meet other YouTubers around the country. He met with a few people Levi had heard of like ReindeerGames (Reiner Braun), Birdolt (Bertolt Hoover), and LionHeart (Annie Leonhart).

Okay, the kid was impressive and sort of cute. Levi couldn’t deny it. It looked like a lot of his viewers were female and he focused on games that anyone would find amusing. He bit his lip while concentrating, laughed even when he lost, and wore the stupidest mixture of soft grunge and Korean fashions.

“What are you doing?” A head poked over his shoulder. Levi didn’t even try to close the window. It was far too late. Mikasa caught him. “Is that Eren?

“You know this little brat?” Levi turned to his half-sister, eyes narrowed.

“Yeah, we’re friends,” she said it so casually. “We text like… every day.”

“And you didn’t tell me you befriended this kid?”

She scrunched up her brow in annoyance, “What, are you my dad now?”

“I’m a concerned half-brother.”

“Concerned? We’re friends. It seems pretty petty that you’d be upset over a simple thing like a channel name. That’s not like you at all.” She rolled her eyes and left Levi’s room. The two of them split an apartment together for the convenience of it. The two stayed out of each other’s ways, did their own thing, and hardly talked. It was a perfect situation, in Levi’s opinion. “Oh, yeah, I told Eren he could stay here during the convention!” she shouted.

“Didn’t they book him a hotel?” Levi shouted back.

“Why would he shack up at a hotel so far from the convention when he could stay here? Don’t worry, I let Survey Corps know he wouldn’t be needing the room they booked for him!”

Levi glanced back at the screen where a sun-kissed babe with big, tempting eyes stared back at him. Great. It was going to be the longest convention in the entirety of the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittens](http://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	2. Anticipation

Eren bustled around his apartment, preparing everything and anything he could. Mikasa, one of his closest online friends, persuaded him to stay at her apartment for the duration of the convention. She even suggested he stay longer, just to fully enjoy the city and get more involved with the YouTube community in her area. They agreed on a one-month-visit.

He packed up his entire wardrobe, fitting it all into one suitcase. He gave all his leftover food to his neighbor. He shoved the rest of his things into a moving box. Posters, books, bed sheets, and videogames all efficiently packed away. The video games took up their own box along with some old systems he didn’t use any more. He sent photos and videos of his progress to Mikasa via Snapchat. Most were photos of the boxes with captions like: _Is it sad I can fit all my clothes into a carry-on suitcase?_ She’d send back photos of the gorgeous weather with cute little comments like: _Can’t wait for you to get here._

Eren decided to move out of his apartment so it wouldn’t sit empty for the month he’d be gone. He also didn’t think he could afford the rent for that month while he wasn’t working his part-time job in town. So, his grandmotherly neighbor agreed to store his boxes of things for the month until he came back. It worked out too smoothly and he wondered how it all turned out so well.

He whipped out his vlogging camera and held it out in front of him. Before filming, he adjusted his black flat bill cap and pulled a bit of his fringe down. “The apartment looks so empty without all my crap in it! Say goodbye to Eren’s old apartment!” He spun the camera around for a full view of the dusty, tiny place.

When he was satisfied with the shot, he put the camera in his backpack and sat on the wood floor. It wasn’t so long ago that he dropped the ‘I’m not going to college, I want to be a YouTuber’ bomb on his parents and moved out after the certain destruction of a healthy relationship with them. His father wanted him to be a doctor. His mother wanted him to be a lawyer. Well, that simply wasn’t going to happen when he could barely get through high school. The last thing he wanted to do was sign up for another how many years of education.

He tried to explain it. Creating videos made him feel happy and worthwhile. Seeing the comments and views on his videos gave him purpose and chased away the depression. Connecting with strangers online was the best decision he’d ever made. It was his life and he was going to be the one to take control and decide what was best.

Still, he wished they had supported him at least a little. Some dreams just weren’t worth chasing any more and he chose to put his happiness above their approval.

And, after he moved out, he thought the relationship could be salvaged. Then the ‘I like girls _and_ boys _and_ really, anyone’ dropped at a moment of weakness and things fell apart again.

He lay back on the floor and held his phone above him, scrolling through notifications on Instagram, Snapchat, and Tumblr to distract him from the past. His phone sprang to life and buzzed, ringing. He dropped the damned thing on his nose before scrambling to slide his finger across the screen to answer it.

“Hello?” he answered, rubbing at his aching nose.

“Eren, are you all packed?” It was Mikasa.

“Oh, yeah, just finished up!”

“Got the tickets for your flight? Your driver’s license? Passport?”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it all! Don’t worry! I’m getting on the flight in a few hours and I’ll see you… around noon, your time?” He tried to do the math for the time zone change in his head and gave up quickly.

“Yeah, noon,” she confirmed. “We’ll be there to pick you up at the airport.”

“You and Armin?”

“Oh, no, my brother and I. Armin doesn’t fly in until the day before the convention.” Their friend Armin, another YouTuber, was attending the convention as a guest. Mikasa convinced Eren to show up early to ‘settle in’. Really, she was like an overbearing mother. But still, she looked after Eren and was the kindest person he knew.

“I didn’t know you had a brother,” Eren laughed. “Keeping secrets from me?”

“Not much of a secret. He’s pretty lame,” she spoke flatly, which made Eren laugh.

“Lame, huh? If he’s anything like you, he’ll be great.”

She hummed on the other end. “Thanks, Eren. See you later.”

“Later,” Eren agreed and hung up the phone. With a few hours to kill he threw on his backpack and he rolled his suitcase down to the nearest café. He’d waste some time watching YouTube videos until he needed to book it to the airport.

The first channel he went to was HumanitysStrongest. Levi hadn’t posted another video but Eren went ahead and re-watched an old one, one where Levi was playing Rocket League and effortlessly destroying his opponents and basically pulling his team along for the win. Levi was wearing his glasses, a flannel shirt, and an undershirt that dipped really low and showed off his collarbones.

Levi had always been Eren’s idol and Eren found himself getting more and more excited to even catch a glimpse of him in person. Eren didn’t know if he’d faint or cry… or both. This is the person he’d aspired his entire life to be and they were going to be in the _same room_. He could have squealed with glee if he weren’t surrounded by a bunch of strangers.

He wondered if it’d be weird if he took a screenshot of Levi and used it for his desktop wallpaper. This video gifted him with a perfect image. At the last minute, he decided against it. He’d use a _real_ photo that he took himself at the convention. With a nod to himself, securing the promise, he headed off to the airport.

 

* * *

 

“Do it again,” Levi mumbled underneath the bandana tied over his mouth.

Mikasa glared at him, “Why are we sterilizing the apartment? I thought you hated Eren.”

“I don’t hate him. He’s a shitty brat. But I don’t hate him.”

She rolled her eyes and set back out to clean the bathroom again. Levi was happy she didn’t argue; he was internally grateful she was helping him. His compulsion to clean went unexplained though it most likely stemmed from his mother constantly demanding the house be cleaned for visitors. It wasn’t that he wanted to impress Eren. It was simply because they were expecting a visitor.

He put his hands on his hips and admired his handiwork for the main area of the apartment. The kitchen gleamed, the living room sparkled, and the deck outside was swept clean. They’d drug out an air mattress for Eren to sleep in the living room and set it up with clean sheets and blankets. Levi wondered if it would be a suitable arrangement for a whole month, but it would have to do for the time being.

As he finished up cleaning, he couldn’t stop looking at the clock. Three minutes felt like twenty. Five minutes felt like an hour. He’d nearly dropped his phone several times when flicking it out of his pocket to check the time so often.

“Look, I can clean. You work. I’ll come get you when it’s time to go.” Mikasa eventually pushed him into the office, locking him in.

But he really couldn’t work on the game. He couldn’t even bring himself to attempt to make a new video. Instead, he brought up Eren’s channel again and re-watched a video of him playing Pokémon, randomly battling people from across the globe. Apparently, on a dare, he filmed the video shirtless. Levi watched the muscles in Eren’s arms bunch up and tense every time his Lucario’s HP dipped into the red.

He smacked himself in the forehead. Why was he so fucking distracted? He needed all the precious time he could get to finish up his game, not goggle at some kid on the Internet. Levi never gave much thought to relationships and romance. As Erwin always said, Levi was married to his job and was off the market. He’d been set up several times but quickly grew bored of anyone who didn’t know how to correctly pronounce ‘gif’ and thought Facebook was the best social media network out there. Really, he figured he’d have better luck programming his own cyber-wife than finding someone he could stand for more than an hour. People his own age had baggage, kids, divorces, and were looking for stability. Levi didn’t want any of those things. He’d rather be alone anyway. It was easier that way.

His phone rang, the noise startling him just a little. The phone fell off his desk and under it, which led to him banging his head on the edge in efforts to retrieve it. He rubbed his aching head and answered, “What?”

“Geez, will you ever answer your phone like a normal person?” Farlan laughed. “I heard about your little house guest! The news is spreading over here at Survey Corps like a wildfire!”

“It bewilders me that they’re allowing this to happen to me.”

“What? We all think it’s cute. Mikasa and her little friend get to spend time together. Plus, it’ll be good for you.”

“Good for me?”

“You need someone to look after to remind you to look after yourself.”

“I look after Mikasa.”

“Mikasa doesn’t need looking after.” Levi snorted, that much was true. Farlan added, “Plus, you can do a video together! Can you imagine it? HumanitysStrongest and HumanitysHope… you sound like a dynamic duo!”

“Sounds like a load of-“

Farlan cut him off, “So how long is he sticking around?”

“About a month or so.”

“Really? That long?”

“Apparently he’s from some small-ass town and wants to get a taste of a real human civilization.”

“Are he and Mikasa… you know?”

“Hell if I know. And I’d rather not know.” The thought never occurred to him and he pushed it out of his head as fast as he could. Picturing his half-sister with anyone in _that way_ wasn’t something he thought about. Picturing his half-sister with Eren was something that actually made his stomach flip.

Farlan laughed, “Ah, young love. Good luck sleeping because all you’ll be hearing is _thump, thump, thump…_ ”

“Fuck, Farlan. Shove a cock in it for Christ’s sake,” Levi venomously scolded. “What are we, fifteen?”

“Pretty much,” his friend shrugged off Levi’s harsh tone and continued, “The team over here is working on Attack on Titan so take the day off. You deserve it.”

“I’m not taking the whole day off to be a chauffer for Mikasa’s friend. We have work to do.”

“And I’m telling you we’ve got it covered. This is a huge game and you can’t rationally think that you’re going to do it all by yourself. Why do you think they play those long-ass credits at the end of video games? It takes a shit-ton of people to make them!”

It wasn’t often that Farlan had to lecture him. Normally, it was the other way around. ‘Farlan, don’t have sex in my office.’ ‘Farlan, stop trying to parkour to work.’ ‘Farlan, get that fucking spaghetti off my ceiling.’ Though when it really counted, Farlan was as serious and calm as they came. Really, the only time he acted so silly was when he was with Isabel.

“Levi?” he asked when Levi didn’t reply right away. “Day off. You. Take time. Relax. No working. Take a nap. Okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, fine,” Levi submitted. He didn’t feel like arguing when it was almost time to leave for the airport. He hung up on Farlan and looked at himself in the full-length mirror. Sharp, olive-colored pants made his legs look nice, even though they weren’t all that long. A black hoodie hid his toned muscles, but made him look casual. He cleaned his glasses for the tenth time and stuck them back on his face. He threw on a beanie for good measure and went to meet Mikasa out in the living room.

“Aren’t you too old to be a hipster?” she teased.

He let it go and gave the room one last look. “Ready?”

She nodded and they started on their way to the airport. The drive was a bit long and quiet. Levi wanted to ask her questions about her friend, but refrained. The kid was ten years younger than him, lived half a country away, and most likely had someone special in his life already. Plus, he was Mikasa’s close friend.

They parked and waited in the terminal. Mikasa seemed much more eager and open than usual, which was a nice change. She’d closed herself off after her dad walked out on Kuchel without any notice. But, slowly, she eventually seemed to turn out okay. The same thing happened with Levi’s father and he was fine, right?

It was weird that they were both looking forward to the same thing. Levi caught himself in his thoughts. Looking forward? To a shitty brat staying in his living room? No. He was looking forward to seeing his sister spending time with an actual human being. Yes, he was just being a great older brother. A great older brother whose heart was speeding up as Eren’s plane emptied into the terminal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I do hope you enjoyed it! 
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	3. Beginning (Oops)

The flight was long and tiresome, per usual, but Eren’s energy came back full-throttle once they landed. His back and legs ached from sitting in such a small space. Were the people who invented airplanes three feet tall? He wished he had shorter legs and did his best to stretch them out as he exited the plane, following the long line of slow-moving passengers. A part of him thanked Mikasa for convincing him to show up early because he definitely needed a nap after sitting between Chatty McGee and Snores-A-Lot.

He sent out his ‘I landed okay’ messages to his friends. He strategically texted her his plan to live with Mikasa for a month right before his plane took off and decided to deal with the consequences later. He had seven voicemails and a variety of texts all saying the same thing: call me.

So, he did. She answered on the first ring. “Eren! _What_ is going on?”

“I got invited to a really cool gaming convention, Mom! I couldn’t pass that up!” he went straight on the defensive.

“Eren! You sent me a _text_ right before your plane took off! What if something happened to you?”

“What if something _did_ happen to me? You guys never reach out to me any other day of the week,” he was blunt. “So why is this any different?”

“You’re half-way across the country!”

“I might as well be with the way you two treat me!”

“Eren…” her voice softened. “I know this has been hard for all of us. But, moving so far away isn’t the right way to handle this.”

“It’s a month.”

“Until you decide you like it there so much and decide to stay!” she started to cry. Eren’s heart fell. “I miss my baby boy,” she sniffled.

Eren sat down in a free chair. “Mom… I miss you guys too. But this is something I have to do, even if you don’t support it…”

“Promise you’ll come straight here once you come back home? We can talk about things then…”

“Okay, I promise,” Eren exhaled. He was happy he could appease her for now. He wasn’t sure he could go through the whole month without feeling guilty for leaving on such short notice. They said their goodbyes and hung up. Now he was both physically and emotionally exhausted and couldn’t take any more surprises. He grabbed his vlogging camera out and smiled, he was going to film the first time he and Mikasa met in person.

There was some kind of crowd in the terminal and Eren craned his neck to see what was going on but with no avail. The sight of Mikasa waiting for him with a warm smile distracted him from the crowd. He pointed his camera to get a full view of it all and grinned. “Mikasa!” he shouted, running to her with open arms.

“Eren!” she returned, letting him crash into her with a hug. While the two had never met in person before, yet it all seemed so natural. She smelled just like he’d thought she would. Her hair was just as silky as it looked in her videos. Eren was sure she could entrance anyone, but it looked like everyone’s attention was elsewhere.

“What’s going on over there?” Eren asked, pulling away from her and attempting to see what was going on. He tucked away his camera and tried to get a better look. He caught a glimpse of a very stoic, annoyed stare. “Oh my god, Mikasa. It’s… it’s…” With his eyes pinned on those grey ones, his hand flew over to her for support, only to have realized he grabbed onto her chest. He looked at her with wide eyes and then to his hand. Her cheeks were bright red and her lips parted, though no words came out.

A hand gripped onto his shoulder. Hard. He was yanked back from Mikasa until his back hit a very hard chest. Eren spun around, fists ready to fight, only to see HumanitysStrongest staring daggers. “Oi, you shitty brat. Get your hands off my sister.”

“I… I…” he wanted to defend himself but couldn’t swallow the fact that Levi was there, right in front of him. Levi touched him. Levi was threatening him. Star-struck didn’t begin to cover it.

Mikasa took Eren’s hand and pulled him slightly behind her. “It was an accident,” she explained. She turned to Eren, looking guilty. “Eren, I should have told you…”

“He said _sister_ ,” Eren tapped on Mikasa’s shoulder. “He said you were his _sister_!”

“Half-sister,” she corrected. “So I really only have to claim half of him.”

Eren wanted to drill her with questions. Mostly, why did she keep it a secret? It didn’t seem appropriate to ask when his lifelong idol was standing right in front of him seething. He didn’t want to look stupid, even though he already seemed to have that base covered.

Words refused to come out of his mouth. Levi was _there_. Right fucking there. He could reach out and touch him. And Levi was… shorter in person. Much shorter. Wow.

“Uh, hi, uh… short…” Eren managed to get out. Shit. He wanted to kick himself in the face.

Levi narrowed his eyes, “Right… Should we go, then?”

Mikasa literally face-palmed herself. “Yeah, let’s.”

Eren didn’t think his face could burn any hotter. He followed the two out of the airport, watching as Levi waved to his fans as he left. He was so _cool_. Eren’s eyes sparkled even though he probably made the worst first impression.

Mikasa escorted him to their white sedan while Levi got into the driver’s seat. She sat in the back with Eren and eased the tension by chatting about the upcoming week.

“There’s plenty of space to film, did you bring your stuff? You can borrow ours too if you forgot anything!” she started.

“I think I brought enough to cover me for the month… Thanks again for letting me stay, by the way.”

“Don’t worry about it, Eren.”

“Here, let’s get a photo for Instagram…” Eren fiddled with his phone until he could get a proper photo of them together. Luckily, cars had great lighting. He held up a peace sign and Mikasa did her best to smile cutely. It was a great way to distract himself from his fucking role model driving the car down the highway. He messed with filters and asked for Mikasa’s opinion, keeping his eyes pinned on the phone.

The pulled up to a very fancy-looking apartment complex and Levi pulled into a garage on the main floor. Mikasa helped Eren with his suitcase again and they went up an elevator, down a hallway, and through a door with a key code.

It was just as he’d seen from Mikasa’s Snapchat videos. It was the same living room she used for her fitness videos. The same kitchen she used to film her healthy eating videos. It was all dazzling white with accents of blue and grey. The sunlight flooded in, making it all the more magical compared to his old ghostly apartment.

“This is sort of the main area,” she gestured to the big room where the kitchen and living room combined. “Down that hallway are the bedrooms, mine and Levi’s, and the office. The bathroom is on the other end of this room, there’s only one but it shouldn’t be a problem. Oh, and for the time being we figured you could sleep in the living room, if that’s okay.”

Eren’s big eyes had to be glowing. “This is really great, thank you!”

Levi sort of waved them off and went to his office, shutting the door behind him. Eren put on his serious face immediately and hissed, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

She nervously twirled on a lock of her hair, “I didn’t want it to be weird.”

“It’s definitely weird.”

“We don’t talk a lot anyway. He’s a lot older than me and we sort of do our own thing most of the time. I didn’t want you to… forget about me.”

Eren’s annoyance melted into sympathy. Oh. Of course she felt that way, even though the fear was silly. He wrapped her up in his arms and laughed, “I’d never forget about you, idiot. We’re friends.”

She returned the hug and exhaled with relief, “Thank you.”

He pulled away and gave the place another look around. “Geez, it’s bigger in person. Mind if I vlog here?”

She shook her head and he started filming, the picture focused on Mikasa and him. “Hey guys! I just got to Mikasa’s all in one piece! I didn’t lose my backpack or grab the wrong…” Eren looked at his suitcase. Well, the suitcase. He’d been so frazzled at the airport that he had grabbed the wrong suitcase. “Oh no.”

Mikasa opened the suitcase to reveal an entire wardrobe of women’s clothing and makeup. “Someone’s not going to be happy…” she held back laughter. “Levi?” she called. “We’re going to need to get back to the airport!”

 

After another round trip to the airport, they dropped off the stranger’s bag at the help desk and left Eren’s information if they found his lost suitcase. Eren was, well, _mortified_ to say the least and Mikasa could tell. “I’m sure they grabbed your bag and you grabbed theirs, I bet it happens all the time,” she tried to be casual about it. “At least it was just your clothes. Thank goodness you have all your important stuff in your backpack.”

He wanted to melt into the floorboards and remain a puddle of embarrassment for the rest of his life. Still, he couldn’t sulk too much. He was on the coast with his closest friend while HumanitysStrongest toted them around without too much complaint.

Eren did some filming out the window, capturing the palm trees and sunny sky. He shot some footage of Mikasa laughing at something dumb he said and avoided filming Levi, since he didn’t get his permission too and was too intimidated to ask just yet.

They stopped to pick up a pizza on their way back and finally ended up back in the apartment diving into the cheesy goodness that eased the pain of shame.

 

* * *

 

Levi sat in his office while Mikasa and Eren hung out in the living room. He’d been given the day off but couldn’t find the patience to stick around the two youngsters for too long. First with the groping, which set his skin on fire in an unfamiliar way. He figured Mikasa could handle herself if it was unwelcomed, he was simply caught off guard by the sight. Yes, it was an accident. No, he didn’t want to think about it too much. And then the kid mixes up his suitcase, leaving him without any clothes for a month.

“Irresponsible brat…” Levi mumbled softly, stealthily moving from the office to his bedroom. He ransacked his closet for anything that could possibly fit the kid, at least until they could purchase some new clothes. Levi figured he wouldn’t want to show up to the convention, in front of his fans, wearing a trash bag. Though, he was pretty sure Eren had a hat that said ‘literal trash’ in it, which would be fitting.

He found some oversized shirts and a few pairs of joggers that would work and folded them in a neat pile on his bed. Levi stared at the pile and bit his lip. All he had to do was bring it out to Eren. The kid would appreciate it and probably thank him a million times, but there was the slight possibility it turned out to be an awkward idea. What if they didn’t fit? What if he thought it was weird?

Levi left the clothes in favor of making dinner. He’d gotten so used to cooking for two, three wouldn’t be any more of a hassle. He walked in on the two of them editing on their laptops intently. Eren looked up at him with those big green eyes, only for a second, before nervously looking back at the screen.

“I’m making curry tonight,” he announced, checking to see if that would be okay.

Mikasa hummed and Eren gave him an encouraging smile and a nod. In the hour it took to prepare everything, he kept his ears pinned on conversations between Mikasa and Eren. They talked quietly about his trip and Mikasa became hesitant when asking about what his parents thought about him leaving his hometown for a month.

“I didn’t… really… say anything until right before the plane took off,” he admitted.

While Levi expected Mikasa to scold him or perhaps encourage him to contact his parents, she just nodded and understood. They changed the subject to a new season of one of their favorite shows coming out.

“Eating at your desk again?” Mikasa asked as Levi set two plates out on the dinner table.

“Yeah, I have some things I want to finish up. You two enjoy.”

And, only twenty minutes later, Mikasa came in to his office holding up the pile of folded clothes that were on his bed. “Are these for Eren to borrow?”

Again, he’d been caught. “Yeah, I thought he could use them.”

She smiled, softly, and left the room without another word. A smile from Mikasa was worth a thousand words of kindness and Levi felt a little happy himself for pleasing his sibling. With that as encouragement, he got to work.

 

How long had he been glued to the screen? Too damned long. His set his glasses on top of his head and rubbed his sore eyes. He stretched out his back and shoulders, forcing out the stiffness. Every muscle in his body screamed out for a shower. Without much thought other than his aching ass, he took off towards the bathroom. Only when he got halfway there, he realized there was a sleeping Eren on his living room floor. He broke into a skillful tiptoe before stopping all together and rethinking his decision to shower.

The kid had a long day and the last thing he needed was to be woken up at two in the morning by the running water. He stole a look at Eren’s mess of chocolate hair poking out from under the blankets and rolled his eyes. It was admirable that even when everything seemed to be going wrong, the tiresome brat still smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you giggled or smiled or exhaled from your nose a little harder than usual. <3
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	4. Please Don't Play With That

Levi woke up extra early to fit in a shower before heading over to Survey Corps. He yawned and tread across the floor in a half-sleep state, barely conscious. His to-do list was rapidly growing. Shower, get dressed, throw together some breakfast, head to work, fix glitches, attend a meeting, help plan SurveyCon… Just thinking about it all made him want to head straight back to bed and sleep for another ten years. Deadlines were quickly approaching and there was still too much to do. He felt like he was drowning in things to do and didn’t even have enough time to take a decent shit.

When he took his usual path through the living room, his foot caught on something new and he toppled over, crash landing into a warm body. He then snapped out of his morning autopilot and remembered their houseguest, the annoyingly cute YouTuber straight from Nowhere, USA. Even when he slept, he looked dumbly cute. His hair was swept from his face and he smiled in his sleep.

Levi scrambled off the pile of Eren and blankets, all while bouncing lightly on the air mattress. Even with the crash, Eren was still out like a light. “Heavy sleeper…” Levi stared at the kid, appalled. Perhaps the jet lag was taking its toll on him. Or perhaps the kid just slept like a fucking rock.

Levi collected himself and got to the bathroom. He made sure to keep his shower short and efficient. It wouldn’t be long before Mikasa would be up and he wasn’t so sure on when Eren would wake up. Either way, he got everything done in a reasonable amount of time, wrapped a towel around his waist, and went back to his bedroom to finish getting ready.

 

* * *

 

Eren woke with a start from a dream that he was mauled by a grizzly bear and yawned, snuggling into the blanket further. He was sure it was morning, but wished for only a few more minutes of pleasant warmth. Eren couldn’t recall a time he’d slept better in the past few years and felt like if he abandoned his blanket cocoon so soon he’d never sleep like that again.

The bathroom door swung open and a fog of steam rolled out. Eren squeezed his eyes shut to feign sleep, though wasn’t sure why he did. He snuck a peek to see Levi crossing the room with just a towel around his waist. Eren mentally crossed his fingers for Levi to ignore him, because if Levi even glanced his direction he’d see Eren furiously blushing.

Levi was fucking _stacked_. Eren guessed he was in good shape as sometimes he wore a tank top in his videos, showing off those toned biceps. But _wow_ , nothing could compare to an in-person full view of the short, intimidating Adonis.

He disappeared down the hallway and Eren squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to save the mental picture in his mind-vault. He then had to will away his mixture of morning wood and Levi-fueled arousal before daring to leave the blankets. He didn’t want to imagine what Mikasa would think of him crushing on her brother.

Crushing… the word echoed in Eren’s brain. He’d always found Levi staggering, attractive, and intimidating. The guy was his idol for so long, he hadn’t realized that had blossomed into something more than admiration. He brushed the thought off; all of it was impossible anyway.

Eren looked around the empty room, leapt from his blankets, and scurried into the steamy bathroom. He shut the door behind him and took in a deep breath of hot, soapy-smelling air. _I’m in Levi’s bathroom. After he took a shower._ The voice inside his head was calm but his heart still pounded wildly over the silly little thing.

Eren stepped into the shower and turned the water on, thankful for the hot rain over his skin. His eyes lingered over the different soaps and shampoos, wondering which to borrow. It won’t completely obvious whose was whose, so he went with the cherry blossom soap and the honey shampoo. They both smelled heavenly and soon enough he was as clean as a whistle. He slipped back into the borrowed joggers and shirt before stepping out of the bathroom, only to be greeted with Mikasa standing right at the door wearing sweats.

“I went to the store this morning on my morning run and picked up a few things I thought you’d need. We can go again later, but I’m assuming you didn’t want to go out with morning breath.” She handed him a plastic bag filled to the brim with toiletries. She sniffed the air and smiled, “Did you use my soap?” She took another sniff, “And Levi’s shampoo?”

He blushed and nodded, rubbing at the nap of his neck, “I hoped neither of you would mind.”

She sort of laughed a little, “Smells nice.”

The two of them brushed their teeth side by side and Eren spritzed on some of the cologne Mikasa bought him.

She asked, “What do you want to do today?”

“Probably pick up some more clothes, just in case I never get mine back.”

She nodded, “I’ll shower and we can take off.”

Once she shoved Eren out of the bathroom, he changed back into his clothes from yesterday. They were still pretty clean, at least enough to do until he got something else. He then sat on his air mattress and set his laptop in his lap, reading over comments on his videos and scrolling through Tumblr. A voice caused him to jump, “Hungry?”

Eren looked up to Levi who was pouring milk into a cereal bowl. How long had he been there? Eren couldn’t be sure; he didn’t even look over there after talking to Mikasa. “Uh, sure.”

Eren started to get up from his spot, but Levi held up a hand to stop him. “Captain Crunch okay?”

Eren nodded and Levi delivered him the bowl of cereal he’d prepared. He went back to make a new one for himself. Eren gathered the guts to actually attempt a conversation with the man, “I’m, uh, thinking up new ideas for videos.”

“Oh yeah? Any luck?”

Eren shoved a spoonful of cereal in his mouth and shrugged.

“Try Shelter, I think that seems up your alley.”

“Is that the honey badger one?”

“That’s exactly what it is.”

Eren pulled the game up on Steam and began the download, not even taking time to think about it. “Thanks for that. Why do you think I’d like it?”

“Yeah, no problem. You seem like a honey badger kind of guy.”

Eren had to laugh at that and returned his eyes to his comments and Tumblr. As much as he wanted to announce to the world that he got to meet the one man who guided his life plan, he knew he’d have to ask first. And asking was a little easier thought than done.

Mikasa came out from the bathroom in some jeans and a black tank top with her hair pulled up. “Ready to go?” she asked Eren.

Eren hopped up from his spot and followed Mikasa out the door. She didn’t even say goodbye to Levi, but Eren left with a little wave.

First thing was first; he pulled his vlogging camera from his backpack and started gathering footage. “With my suitcase completely lost, Mikasa and I are doing a little shopping today so I don’t show up to the convention in my birthday suit. Off to a great start, eh?”

“You’d lose your head if it wasn’t attached,” Mikasa added.

He wanted to defend himself, but truly couldn’t. “Yeah, yeah, anyway we’re off to do some shopping!”

When they got to the street, Mikasa guided him to a nearby plaza where they had tons of different shops. She specifically took him to a hole-in-the-wall thrift shop that Eren fell in love with. Twenty dollars later and he had enough outfits to last a week. All the while, Eren filmed the experience. “Check out this magnificent ensemble!” Eren held up a lime green women’s pantsuit with the jacket sleeves torn off. “I think Mikasa would _kill_ it in this.”

“I’ll kill _you_ if you put that thing anywhere near me,” she returned with a playfully sharp tone.

He threw the suit over her head and burst out laughing. “You look better already!”

Mikasa’s phone started ringing, the default ringtone with the marimbas. She tore off the pantsuit from her head and answered, “Yeah?”

A moment of silence before she huffed, “That’s stupid. We’ll just walk over.” She rolled her eyes and hung up the phone while an irritated voice was still talking. “Levi isn’t allowed to go to work today so he was going to get groceries for all of us. He asked me what you liked and I’m not relaying that shit.”

“Not allowed to go to work?” Eren scrunched up his brow.

“His co-workers are like family. Levi’s been working hard lately, so they’re pushing for him to stay home and relax while they help finish up the game. He’s done enough already.”

She led him out of the store and down the street towards a big grocery store with a big green sign. “So he works a lot, huh?” Eren looked up at the cloudless sky while they walked down the brick sidewalk.

“Yeah, I don’t see him much because of it. Everyone jokes that he’s married to his work.”

Eren hummed and took some footage of the shops they passed and of he and Mikasa walking. They got into the massive grocery store and started looking through the isles for any sign of Levi. “Are you sure he’s here?” Eren asked.

“He sent me his location from his phone, it says he is…” Mikasa looked down at the little map on her phone.

Eren eyed an empty cash register slot and got out his camera.

“Eren, no,” Mikasa read his mind.

“Eren, yes,” he started filming. He turned on the store intercom and announced, “Would Levi Ackerman come to the front? Levi Ackerman, come to the front. Your parents, Mikasa and Eren are looking for you.”

“Shitty brat!” they could hear him yelling from across the store.

“Sir, please don’t play with that,” an employee shuffled Eren out of the cash register booth.

“Sorry, sorry,” Eren couldn’t hold in his laughter.

“I don’t claim you,” Mikasa sighed.

“I did it for the vlog,” he proudly held up his camera and smiled.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Levi bustled up to them, nearly ramming Eren with the shopping cart.

Eren was still laughing, a little too high on the adrenaline to feel bashful about embarrassing his idol. “Hey, look, we found him!” he exclaimed to Mikasa, gesturing towards the blushing Levi. She ended up giggling a little at how flustered Levi seemed.

“HumanitysHope? More like HumanitysDope…” Levi muttered before guiding them through the isles.

Eren wasn’t a picky eater, which left them with a cart full of different snacks and ingredients for meals. Mikasa picked out most of the things, claiming that Levi’s diet of ramen and tea would eventually kill him. She planned on filming some videos on how to make some healthy entrees and invited Eren to be her guest star. The two of them raved about the different meals they could put together all while Levi pushed the cart behind them.

When it came time to check out, Levi pulled out his wallet and Eren started to stammer, “I, uh, can help out with the groceries! I, mean, you’re letting me stay for free, and, I should probably help…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Levi cut him off and swiped his card.

“Really, don’t worry about it, Eren,” Mikasa put a hand on his shoulder and smiled. “We like having you around.”

Eren smiled and tried to release his worries into the void. He wasn’t used to not being a burden. They took Levi’s car back to the apartment instead of walking. Eren made sure to bring up more groceries than the other two filling up his arms and hands with plastic bags with the heaviest items.

“We should go out for lunch,” Mikasa suggested. “My treat. Levi, you can come too, I guess.”

“I actually have some work…”

Mikasa cut him off, “You’re coming too. No excuses.”

Levi’s phone rang, the default marimba tone (these siblings needed better ringtones). “Yeah?” he answered. (They also needed better greetings).

Whomever was on the other line was so loud that Eren and Mikasa could hear them. “Levi! What are you doing!?”

“Going out to lunch with Mikasa and her friend…” he tentatively replied.

“Perfect! Have her send me the address! We’ll meet you!”

Mikasa was already on it, tapping away at her phone. Levi gave her a pointed look that screamed _don’t you dare_! She tapped send.

The voice on the other end of the phone squealed, “We’ll be there in ten!” They hung up.

“Looks like we’ll be eating with some of the people from Survey Corps,” Mikasa smirked at Levi before turning to Eren with a genuine smile. “They’re the ones throwing the convention. It’ll be good for you to meet them beforehand.”

Eren suddenly got a bit nervous. He was going to meet the people who invited him to SurveyCon, the ones who thought he was worth enough to attend. The last thing he wanted to do was make a fool out of himself and blow it. Would it be possible for them to uninvited him? He desperately hoped not.

He excused himself to change into some of his new clothes. He chose a dark blue short sleeve button up with little green cactuses on it. He paired it with some olive skinny jeans (that he definitely did _not_ purchase because Levi had a similar pair). Okay, maybe he did. But that didn’t matter.

“Looks nice,” Mikasa approved when he walked out of the bathroom.

“You think?”

“Are you nervous?”

“No,” he lied and tried to look as casual as possible. He went to lean up against the arm of the couch but underestimated the distance and fell into it awkwardly.

“You’re nervous. Don’t be. They love you already.”

“They do?”

“Who wouldn’t?”

Eren glanced over to Levi who was throwing on his sunglasses and gathering up his keys. “Ready to go?” he asked them with a sigh.

 _Who wouldn’t?_ Eren thought about the comment a little too hard, following the siblings out the door, his eyes on Levi’s back. He’d spent so much time following the guy through a glass screen. Now he was still following him, close enough to touch, but still seemingly far. It was cliché, really. If Eren really wanted, he could tackle the guy to the ground and punch his beautiful face. The only thing keeping him from throwing himself at his idol was the invisible barrier of fear.

 _Who wouldn’t?_ The phrase helped knock down a few of the bricks in that wall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for joining me for another chapter! I hope you giggled a bit, I sure did! 
> 
> And, of course, thanks to [The_Raven](http://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Raven/pseuds/The_Raven) for the constant encouragement as well as all you lovely folks to send me really nice comments! 
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	5. Humming

Eren sat at a table with quite the cast of characters. His hand was being shaken (almost violently). “Hello, Eren! I’m Hange Zoe! Just call me Hange, Levi’s non-binary caretaker! I’m so happy to meet you! It’s nice to touch you, you know, since we can’t do that over YouTube! Oh, look at me, chattering away! Let’s see, this is Farlan and Isabel! We’re all helping Levi with Attack on Titan over at Survey Corps! Well, that, and getting ready for the convention! Are you excited?” they rambled with a huge smile on their face.

“Caretaker?” Levi asked, though he was ignored.

A redhead with an equally large smile shook Eren’s hand next, “Isabel. Nice to meet you, Eren!”

The one Eren assumed to be Farlan gave him a wave from across the table, “Farlan. Don’t let Hange rattle you up too much.”

“You two are from Underground, right?” Eren only added the ‘right’ to hide his inner fan-boy. He knew exactly who Isabel and Farlan were. The two were YouTubers and ran a channel called Underground where they review up and coming indie games. Their hilarious commentary and undisclosed relationship kept everyone hanging onto their every word. Levi even joined them for a lot of videos, which made the three a killer trifecta.

“You know it!” Isabel grinned and looked to the vlogging camera in Eren’s lap. “Are you vlogging today?”

“Oh, yeah, I am! I wasn’t sure if it was okay to film everyone… I always ask for permission first, you know,” he sheepishly spoke.

Isabel laughed and made a ‘psh’ noise, flicking her wrist, “It’s no problem, Eren! Vlog away!”

Eren’s eyes lit up at the chance of capturing the moment he got to meet all the people he looked up to. He took out the camera and adjusted it to get everyone into the picture, “Having lunch with everybody! There’s Mikasa, Farlan, Isabel, Hange, and Levi!” Everyone gave waves and smiles to the camera. When their food came out, Eren filmed that too. After eating, he felt a lot less nervous and even showed his three new friends the footage he took at the grocery store, leaving them all in tears.

 

* * *

 

Levi watched Eren interact with his friends with a little smile on his face. It was good to see the kid relax a little. Before, it looked like he was holding in a massive shit the whole time. Levi’s phone buzzed and he looked down to see Hange was texting him. He glared at them from across the table before looking down at the text.

 **Shitty Glasses [12:42pm]:** He’s cuuute and you’re staring at him. Ask him out!

 **Levi [12:42pm]:** No.

 **Shitty Glasses [12:43pm]:** You know you want to~ (ﾟヮﾟ)

He looked across the table to see them wiggling their eyebrows at him.

 **Levi [12:43pm]:** Shut it.

 **Shitty Glasses [12:44pm]:** I’m not even talking! Look how he looks at you! So cute! ( ́ ◕◞ε◟◕`)

Levi looked up and caught Eren’s gaze. Those shimmering green eyes made his heart flip in a weird way. Eren blushed and nervously turned to Mikasa to ask her about her food.

 **Shitty Glasses [12:45pm]:** See?!?! Has he asked you to do a collaboration video yet? As your manager, I think it would be a great idea!

 **Levi [12:45pm]:** No, he’s barely talked to me.

 **Shitty Glasses [12:46pm]:** Stop looking like a grouch and maybe he’d feel less intimidated – you’re not really the approachable type ╮(─▽─)╭

Levi put his phone down and just rolled his eyes at Hange. They were insufferable as always, but maybe they had a point. Eren saw him as an idol, not a person. Levi was a role model, an Internet celebrity, and Mikasa’s half-brother to Eren. He was HumanitysStrongest, not Levi Ackerman.

Though, that stunt he pulled at the grocery store was… curiously amusing.

“So what sort of things are you going to do while you’re here, Eren?” Hange asked with a mischievous grin.

“I’ve always wanted to see the ocean,” he started, “Plus, Mikasa said there were a ton of YouTubers in this area so I’d like to work on some collabs or something!”

“Yes!” Isabel burst, standing from her seat. “You could be a guest star on our channel!”

Eren’s eyes sparkled, “Really?”

“But only if we can be on yours!” she sat back down with an equal amount of fervor.

“Of course you can!” Eren’s sparkly eyes were on fire.

Isabel gave Levi a pointed look. _See? It’s easy. Just ask him to do a video with you._ Since when were his friends so meddlesome? It was almost irritating. Scratch that, it _was_ irritating.

“It looks like it’s going to rain,” Mikasa looked up to the dark clouds rolling in.

“Really? But it was so sunny a second ago…” Eren’s face scrunched up in confusion.

“A lot of times, it’ll rain like crazy for an hour or so and then get sunny again. Tropical weather, I tell you! It’s fascinating, really!” Hange explained with stars in their eyes. _Everything_ was fascinating in those big, sparkly eyes. Levi was surprised the modern education system didn’t snuff out all that curiosity, but that was one of the amazing things about Hange. They were always thrilled to divulge.

“Shoot, maybe we should skedaddle. It’d be a good time to get some editing done,” Isabel dug through her purse to pay the bill.

Levi sighed, “Stop. I’ve got it.”

“Whatever, we invited ourselves so we’ll pay,” Farlan stopped him.

“What happened to the usual ‘whoever has the most subscribers pays’?” Levi retorted.

“Oh you must have misheard! Whoever has the most subscribers is _gay_ ,” Hange pointedly looked at Eren. “Levi’s gay. Interested in men. He’s single too.”

“Oh, I, uh, had no idea.” Eren blushed and nervously looked at everything except Levi.

“How about you, Eren, do you have a lucky person in your life?” she leaned over the table, practically bumping noses with Eren.

“Okay!” Levi interrupted. He rolled his eyes, unaffected by her outing him. He stood and put an end to the nonsense. “Let’s beat the rain home.”

“Waaait,” Isabel grabbed her phone. “Eren let me get your phone number. We can decide on a day to do the video together.”

That extra two minutes left them running to the car in the middle of the rainstorm, liberally soaking them all. Eren’s shirt stuck to his muscles and Levi kept stealthily glancing at him through the rear-view mirror. It distracted him from the thought that the inside of his car would be soaked. His sneak skill had to be at one hundred and the thought made Levi smirk a little, for Eren didn’t catch him staring once. Mikasa was busy fussing over him, consistently telling him to shower as soon as they got back so he wouldn’t catch a cold. Levi wanted to remind her the brat didn’t have paper skin and glass bones. Eren nervously toyed at his eyebrow piercing and kept assuring her that he’d be fine.

When they got back, Eren somehow seemed to win the argument that Mikasa should shower first. Eren shivered while leaning over the counter, wasting time scrolling on his phone.

Levi slipped into the bathroom to grab a towel, earning a sponge to the face from Mikasa. “Levi! _Get out!_ ”

Levi paid her no mind, went back out into the kitchen, and tossed the towel over Eren’s head. “You should dry off before you catch a cold.” With that, he scurried to his bedroom to change and take refuge from the overwhelming urge to dote over the brat.

 

* * *

 

After he showered, he sat on the couch with Mikasa to start throwing together the vlog. “Do you think Levi would care if I posted this?” he asked her, a much more comfortable situation than asking Levi himself.

“No, he wouldn’t care at all,” she murmured. “I bet his fans would love it. Makes him look a little more human.” She had a point. Levi was always poised and controlled during his videos, keeping his image in check at all times. It was professional but also daunting. He was too perfect to be human.

Eren’s throat felt a little scratchy and his eyes watered. “Ugh, allergies…” he complained.

“Allergies?” Mikasa perked up and held her hand against Eren’s forehead, “No, Eren, I think you’ve got a cold.”

“Seriously? Is that even possible?”

“How long have you felt like this?”

“Since my plane ride here.”

She bit her lip and grabbed a thermometer from the bathroom. After properly checking Eren’s temperature, she confirmed he had a fever. Eren did admit he’d been feeling warm lately, but he just figured it was from the constant blushing he was doing around Levi.

“I think you caught something on that plane…” Mikasa murmured.

“Seriously?” Panic set in. He couldn’t afford to be sick during this precious time he had. He especially couldn’t afford to be sick during SurveyCon.

“Even if you’re not, you should take it easy…” She hopped off the couch and threw a blanket over him. “Also, uh, I have a…” She twirled a piece of her hair around her finger. “Date. Tonight. Will you be okay with Levi here by yourself? If not, I can cancel!”

“A date?” Eren wiggled his eyebrows. “No, go on your date. I’ll be fine. I have editing to do anyway.”

Eren got sucked into his editing, too. He rarely looked away from the screen or got distracted by another tab. His eyes were glued to the footage. He replayed the bit where Levi came to the front of the grocery store with a look of pure rage on his face, which made Eren smile every time he played it. He replayed the footage he took over lunch with everyone smiling and waving (except for Levi, of course). It was all like some kind of dream.

Mikasa was going back and forth from her room to the bathroom. She wore a red dress along with some stilettos that could kill a man. “Wow,” Eren commented. “You look like you’re an undercover spy or something.”

She snorted, just a little, and smiled. “How’s the editing?”

“Hilarious. Who’s the lucky one who gets to go on a date with you?”

She took a few steps forward, completely forgetting about the air mattress in the center of the living room, and stepped right on it. Her stilettos punctured a hole right into the plastic and the whole thing deflated in a matter of seconds while they both stared at it with wide eyes.

“Oops,” Eren burst out laughing.

“Oh, geez, Eren, I’m so sorry.”

“You don’t normally make mistakes like that… Are you _nervous_ for your date?” Eren teased, completely disregarding his destroyed bed.

“I, uh…” she narrowed her eyes but they quickly softened. She couldn’t be mad at Eren, especially when he wore that cheeky grin. “No, not nervous... Just…”

She was saved by the bell, or rather saved by the Levi. He came into the room, probably responding to the huge _pop_ from the mattress, and took a few glances between Mikasa, the bed, and Eren. “Well this is a cluster-fuck.”

“Sorry, I just…” she was incredibly flustered, which Eren wished he could film for documentary purposes. It was something he’d never seen before and, quite frankly, adorable. Her cheeks were as red as her dress.

“Don’t worry about it, you go on your date,” Eren waved her off. “We can fix this with duct tape or something.”

She looked to Levi who just waved her off too. With one last nod, she took off in a hurry. And then Eren realized he was alone with Levi and the awkward set in. Until Levi’s phone buzzed seconds later. He spoke the text out loud, “Mikasa says you have a cold?”

“Oh, uh, yeah, just a fever!” It was Eren’s turn to be flustered. “I’ll just sleep it off, I’m sure!”

“Not on the couch, you won’t,” Levi scrunched up his brow. “Come on…”

Eren let out some more feeble protests as Levi lifted him up, laptop and all, and carried him into his room. “Oh, you know, I’m sure Mikasa wouldn’t mind if I stayed there. I don’t have to intrude on your…”

Levi cut him off, “And get her sick? No, this’ll be fine.”

Eren was set on Levi’s bed and managed to get a good look around. Levi’s blankets were plush and clean white with grey and black pillows. The walls didn’t have many decorations other than YouTube awards and a few photos of him and Mikasa. There was a desk with his laptop set up on it and a small dresser next to the closet doors.

Levi pulled the blankets over Eren, set his laptop back in his lap, and sat in his chair at the desk. “Let me know if you need anything,” he murmured, getting back to whatever he was doing.

“Okay,” Eren softly replied, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. Never, ever in his life did he expect to be in such a situation. There were many unexpected things. First of all, he didn’t expect Mr. Clean himself to put a sick guy in his bed. Secondly, he didn’t expect Levi to actually stay with him (and so close). Thirdly, he didn’t expect the guy to hum while he edited a YouTube video. The tune was a pretty little thing that soothed Eren’s vibrating nerves.

“What song is that?” he had to ask.

“It’s an old lullaby my mom used to sing to Mikasa and I… when we were sick. You reminded me of it, sorry.”

“Oh, no, it sounds nice,” Eren tried to reassure him. He chanced to further the conversation, “What are you up to?”

“Since I’ve been banned from work, I’ve been going back through old videos of mine. I haven’t done something… frivolous like these in a while.”

“Frivolous?”

“You know, the challenges and the playthrough videos. The ones that were… just for fun.”

“That’s the whole point of making videos! It’s to enjoy it!” Eren jolted upright and his laptop fell off his lap, to the side of the bed.

Levi chuckled lowly, “Yeah, I suppose it is. You forget after a while…”

“Well, maybe we should do one. Together. Just for fun.”

“Yeah, we should.” Levi looked back to him and genuinely smiled. Not a polite one for appearances or out of obligation. Not the fake one he wore in his videos. This was a real, lovely smile. “Rest up so you’re not sniffling in the video, brat.”

“You’ve got it, Corporal,” Eren joked, leaning back into the pillows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I do hope you enjoyed it! 
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	6. Setting Sail

Eren wasn’t sure when he’d fallen asleep but when he woke up, he was in Levi’s bed and surrounded by fluffy pillows. _Levi’s bed._ Eren could have died and he’d leave the world with no regrets. His head ached a little and his throat was burning, but how could he care too much about those things when he was in between one pillow with a Chain-Chomp on it and another with Makoto Tachibana making a seductive face. Eren took a second look at the Makoto pillow and laughed. There were several jokes in the community about Levi having several anime crushes, one being on Makoto Tachibana. Eren wondered if someone had sent it to him.

Eren saw his laptop was safely put on the bedside table and he took a breath of relief. He wiped the sleep from his eyes and went to get up. Once he heard Levi’s voice, he squeezed his eyes shut and pretended to be asleep.

Levi came into the room and he lowered his voice. “What do you mean it’s the number one ship right now? It’s _trending_? All because they saw two seconds of us together on his vlog? What are the top comments?”

After a few moments, he lowered his voice even more, “Anything rude about Eren?” A slight pause. “Good.”

Levi sat back at his desk and set down to objects. He tapped at his keyboard with lightening speed. “Yeah, he’s got a cold. Mikasa stabbed the air mattress with her shoes. What? No. My bed.”

Eren could hear a squealing roar from whomever Levi was talking to.

“Calm down. I’d just rather get sick than Mikasa. She’s miserable when she’s sick.”

Another squeal, this one more scolding than the last.

“Yeah, shit, you’re going to wake him up. It’s two in the morning. I’ll see you at the meeting tomorrow.”

Levi set his phone down on the desk and tapped away at his keyboard some more. Eren’s heart was pounding too hard. He’d posted that vlog earlier and shut his laptop before he could obsess over the statistics. He wanted to name the video something like ‘A Lunch with Legends’ but didn’t want to sound too much like a fan-girl. Although, of course, he was one hundred percent fan-girl all the time now that he was staying with the most popular gaming YouTuber known to man. Instead, he named it ‘Pre-SurveyCon ~ Day One!’.

So what were people saying about it? What was trending? Why did Eren have to pretend he was asleep? He was buzzing with curiosity and so was his phone. The loud vibrating was a perfect excuse to feign ‘waking up’. He sat up slowly, yawned, and stretched like he was from some kind of goddamn television show. Eren snatched his phone off the bedside table eagerly and nearly keeled over at the sight of all the notifications.

“You broke the internet while you were sleeping,” Levi turned to him with an unreadable expression.

“Broke it?” Eren scrolled the various texts from his YouTube friends.

 **Armin [12:32am]:** I can’t believe you haven’t called me yet!

 **Sasha [1:14am]:** (¬‿¬) i c u hitting on our fav boy

 **Connie [1:19am]:** what the fuck, Eren? you should have told us you were kicking it with celebs!

 **PonyBoy[1:56am]:** fuck u, jaeger, since when did u become a big shot? hmu

Eren decided his phone wasn’t fast enough to keep up with his burning curiosity. He flung open his laptop and saw that his vlog had gotten more views than any of this other videos. The comments ranged anywhere from _come to Brazil_ to _ASKLDAFJ._ A few stuck out to Eren the most.

_They’re finally together!_

_The grocery store! So domestic!_

_I WILL GO DOWN WITH THIS SHIP._

Eren laughed and his face felt hot. He _then_ realized that Levi was still in the room.

“I know, right?” Levi chuckled a little too. “It’s… crazy… Have you seen the name battle?”

“The name battle?”

“They’re deciding on the ship name.”

Eren opened up Twitter and was hit with the onslaught of activity. He spoke them aloud as he found them, “Erevi? Leren? Gross. Ereri? Riren? What even…?”

“Rivaille, my name, it’s a long story. I’d prefer not to go into it.”

Eren realized his subscriber count was rapidly increasing and his social media was overloaded with new updates. “This is crazy…”

“I’d always been shipped with you pretty hard, but this is insane,” Levi was scrolling through his own statistics.

Eren opened up Tumblr and searched the ship name, just for his own personal research. There was an abundance of fan art, gifs, and stills from their videos cropped together. He clicked on a link to a story on Archive of Our Own and found a plethora of fan-fiction (smutty and otherwise). He really went down the rabbit hole when he opened one up and read the first two chapters of it. It was a story where Levi was a dentist, which made Eren snort. Stupid. Then again, the puns were sort of entertaining.

Eren looked up to Levi, who was looking at him. They were both probably thinking the same thing. _So now what?_ Over a million people wanted them to be together, yet they’d barely just met. Eren thought about how unique and positively bonkers the whole thing was and burst out laughing. “This is… weird, right?”

Levi joined in and chuckled a little, “Really weird.”

“Good thing we’re doing a collab soon, think about how they’ll react…” Eren paused and thought for a moment. “Unless you think this is… a bad kind of weird.”

Levi was quiet for a few seconds, which killed Eren. He didn’t appreciate the silence; it only made his stomach ache with uncertainty. What if this was all too much for Levi? What if he didn’t want to get into this sticky mess? Levi had a life beyond the Internet (maybe?) and this sort of thing could spoil any relationships he may or may not have. But, eventually, Levi just smiled, “No, it’s fine. It’s amusing that out of all the YouTubers out there, I get shipped with the shitty brat.”

“Yeah? Try getting shipped with an old man. It sucks.”

That dragged another little bark of laughter out of Levi and Eren was grinning like mad.

“Oi, dipshit, are you hungry? How are you feeling?” Levi broke out of the stupid giggles and put on his adult-pants.

“It’s… almost three in the morning and you’re asking me if I’m hungry?” Eren asked with a breath of more laughter. “Actually, I better get out of your bed. I can sleep on the couch.”

“You’re sick and our guest, you’re not sleeping on a fucking couch. Your giant ass wouldn’t fit on it right anyway.”

Eren snorted, “Not everyone can be as bite-sized as you. Plus, if I did sleep on the couch I’d bring this guy with me,” Eren grabbed Makoto and held him close, “And I wouldn’t want to hog your Makoto pillow.”

“It was a _gift_ ,” Levi defended himself. “I pulled some extras out, you looked like you needed them.”

Eren poked at Makoto’s smiling face. “So do you have more of him hidden somewhere?”

Levi rolled his eyes and huffed, which made Eren shake his head and grin, “It’s okay, someone sent me an Otabek Altin one, but I had to leave him behind. I miss him dearly.”

“Mikasa said you moved all your things out of your apartment?” he seemed eager to change the subject.

Eren decided he’d oblige and shift away from their secret anime crushes, even if that meant for a more serious tone. “Yeah, I live in a month-to-month complex. The old woman that lived across from me let me store a few of my boxes in her apartment until I come back. I’ll figure out what to do from there when I get back.”

“Don’t you live in the same town as your parents?” Levi’s tone seemed unsure and hesitant; Eren wondered what Mikasa had told him about the family situation.

Eren slowly nodded, treading carefully. “I do. But we aren’t on good terms. They’re very… traditional. And I’m very… not.”

“Traditional?”

“You know, wife, kids, house with a picket fence… throw in a fucking a dog, I don’t know. A job where you go to an office everyday and want to blow your brains out.”

“Sounds shitty,” Levi agreed to the notion. “What’s wrong with what you do now? As long as you’re getting by, who cares how?”

“They do, apparently. They don’t think it’s a ‘stable’ career,” he put air quotes around ‘stable’.

“Well, you get out what you put into it. And you work hard. You’ll be fine.”

It was vindicating to hear Levi, of all people, say it. He was the person Eren used as an example of the perfect situation, after all.

“Calm down, sparkly-eyes, things will be fine,” Levi sighed with a smirk. Eren then realized he’d been staring with his mouth open. Levi continued, “Sucks with your parents, though. I’m sure it’s just because they care about you. Probably intimidated that over a million people appreciates what you do.”

Eren smiled into his lap, “Maybe. They’re not hyped up about the fact I haven’t landed a pretty girl yet.”

Levi stared flatly, “I’m thirty-one and have no inclination to _land_ , as you put it, a pretty girl.”

“Yeah, you’re already taken,” Eren joked, gesturing to the Makoto pillow in his arms.

“To each their own. Am I awful for admiring tall men with brown hair and pretty green eyes?”

“I think you’ve got great taste,” Eren gave Makoto a kiss before setting the pillow back down on the bed.

“So Otabek, huh? I figured you’d swoon over Viktor Nikiforov.”

“Why’s that?”

“He’s tall, suave, and… expressive.”

“Yeah, but Otabek has cool hair.”

“Your standards are laughable, _HumanitysHope_.”

Oh shit, Eren knew he’d encounter this situation but the denial in his brain kept convincing him he’d escape.

Levi quirked an eyebrow and finally asked, “So what’s with the name thing?”

“Haven’t you watched my ‘Q&A’ videos?”

Levi just stared at him, giving nothing away.

“I started the channel when I was really young. The only reason I wanted to even try was because of you. Plus, I didn’t think anyone would care enough to watch me other than my friends. So I called it HumanitysHope, because I hoped to be like you one day.” Okay, maybe the bit about the end was too much. He should have stopped earlier.

Levi cocked his head to the side, making his hair flop to that side as well. Eren had never seen him do something so openly cute before, it distracted him from the utter embarrassment of his little story. “You’re a good YouTuber. Of course people would want to watch your videos.”

“I’m really awkward and dorky,” Eren confessed to the obvious.

“It’s relatable.”

“Well,” Eren knew his self-depreciation would get them nowhere. “Thanks. I’m sorry for, uh, copying your name a bit.”

“No harm, no foul.”

“No harm?” Eren jumped on that part. “So all this… shipping stuff?”

Levi smirked and glanced back at his screen, “I think we should have fun with it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Tease them relentlessly without any real explanation.”

“You’re cruel. That sounds fun.”

“It’s on then,” Levi turned back to his computer and started typing.

“What are you writing?” Eren leaned forward to see Levi was on Twitter.

“Any name other than Ereri or Riren is shit.”

Eren barked out a laugh and then ended up coughing up a fit. He sniffled and ended up sneezing too.

“God, brat, you’re a fucking train wreck.” Levi was holding up a notebook as a makeshift shield from Eren’s germs.

“So bad yet you still can’t take your eyes away?” Eren smirked at his attempt at flirting.

“Very smooth. Shit, I’m going to burn those sheets once you’re better.”

“I’m not _that_ sick,” Eren protested. “Mikasa said I have a fever, but I think I feel fine.”

“Let me check.” Levi leaned over to set the back of his hand on Eren’s forehead. “A little warm, I guess,” he decided, leaning back.

“Yeah, see? Not that bad.”

“Still, you should get some rest. Go back to bed.”

“What about you?”

“I don’t do a lot of sleeping.”

“Why not?”

“I’d rather do other, more productive, things.”

“Like tease the internet about our relationship?” Eren adjusted himself back under the covers.

Levi just rolled his eyes and turned back to the computer.

Eren had to admit, “I feel bad using your bed. Where are you going to eventually sleep? I don’t think Mikasa would appreciate you in her bed.”

“Like I said, I don’t sleep. Relax.”

“That’s not healthy either! Seriously, I can sleep on a couch. You and Mikasa are generous enough for letting me stay here…” Eren started to shuffle out of the bed.

Levi _leapt_ across the bed to pin Eren back down. “Shitty brat, I told you it’s fine. Here…” he reached across the gap to fetch his laptop and sat down on the bed next to Eren with his back against the headboard. “Happier now?”

“Sitting doesn’t count as sleeping, even if it’s on a bed… but I guess so.” Eren blushed being so close to Levi.

Levi put the Makoto pillow between them.

Eren laughed, “Leave room for Makoto.”

“He’ll keep me safe from your virus,” Levi patted it into place.

“I’m not viral!” Eren defended himself once again.

“You are on here, apparently…” Levi clicked away from Twitter and went back to YouTube.

“Ha, ha, very funny. I can’t sleep when this is going on…” Eren peeked over the pillow to see what the Internet was doing.

Levi pushed him back down by the forehead, “No, you’re going to sleep. I’ll handle this. You rest.”

“Fine,” Eren muttered, seeping into the mattress. He glanced up at Levi, whose eyes were glued to the screen. The light reflected off of his glasses and his lips were stuck in a straight line. Just like that, he was captured by his work. Eren felt weird not saying anything else, so he spoke from the heart. “Thanks, Levi… Don’t forget to sleep yourself.”

Levi was torn away from the screen, just enough to give Eren a half-smile, “No problem. Sleep well.”

* * *

Levi rubbed the bridge of his nose in the space underneath his glasses. How long had it been? Morning light was peeking through the curtains. Time flew by with so much going on. The Makoto pillow was long gone, captured and disposed onto the ground by a sleeping Eren. Instead, Eren took to latching on to Levi’s thigh and snuggling into it.

Levi didn’t even try to push him away. He didn’t really want to either. Though, it would be an interesting affair when the brat finally woke up. It seemed too complicated of a situation for Levi’s taste. He could picture him flushing and scrambling away, babbling some excuse or perhaps something to change the subject all together.

Levi pulled himself down under the covers. Eren readjusted in his sleep to grab onto Levi’s hip instead, nuzzling into his side. Levi rested his hand on top of the brat’s head and felt his fever was dissipating. Thank the heavens. Levi was sure Eren would implode if a silly little cold kept him from SurveyCon.

Levi weighed his options. He could rest his tired eyes, just for a few minutes, before tearing himself away and making breakfast, or he could wake the brat up immediately. Maybe he could shuffle himself out of Eren’s grasp and nap on the couch.

After thinking through the options, he ended up letting his eyes drop shut. And in seconds, he was out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I do hope you enjoyed it! If there is anything you're dying for me to write about (scenes or otherwise), things you want me to change, or things you want me to add let me know in the comments! I appreciate you all so much, thank you for existing <3
> 
> For reference:  
> Makoto Tachibana - Free! Iwatobi Swim Club  
> Victor Nikiforov - Yuri!!! ON ICE  
> Otabek Altin - Yuri!!! On ICE
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	7. Sexy Voices

Mikasa sat at the breakfast bar, sipping on a smoothie and scrolling through different websites on her laptop. The typical routine every morning had her visiting her email first, followed by YouTube. The first recommended video on her home screen was Eren’s first vlog called ‘Pre-SurveyCon ~ Day One!’. The thumbnail was a still from the video he took of all of them at lunch. She smiled and clicked on the video, reliving the highlights.

After the video she scrolled down to see it had over a million views after only a few hours of it being posted. She pursed her lips and looked through the comments for an explanation. The first one being ‘ _Ereri 2017!!!’_ followed by ‘ _Riren 2017!!!’_.

Oh god. It was happening.

Mikasa whipped out her phone to find a few messages left from her friends, specifically Armin. Her fingers wouldn’t text fast enough so she just set up a video chat with him. He picked up on the second ring.

“Mikasa! What’s going on over there?” he nearly shouted. His blond hair was damp from a shower. “I know you were going to wait to tell Eren about your brother, but what the hell happened?”

“I left them alone for a few hours and…”

“All hell has broken loose!” Armin shrieked, throwing his arms up into the air.

“I didn’t think they’d hit it off so quickly. I thought Levi was Eren’s golden boy, I didn’t think they’d…”

“Fall in love and live happily ever after?”

“I thought he’d be excited to meet his favorite YouTuber.”

“You’ve heard him fan-girl over Levi before. It was bound to happen. I called it. You owe me fifty bucks.”

“How many cups of coffee have you had this morning?” Mikasa asked. She glanced at the clock in the corner of her computer screen, noting it was six in the morning. She and Armin were both early birds, but he wasn’t normally so spritely.

“Irrelevant,” Armin steamrolled right over her. “What are they doing right now?”

She glanced over at the deflated air mattress mess in the middle of the living room. “I don’t know. I’m sure Eren is in my bed. He caught a cold. I accidentally left a stab wound in his bed.”

“Is he going to be okay for the convention?” Armin’s demeanor suddenly shifted. His erratic information-overload dissipated in favor of concern for their friend.

“I’m sure…” Mikasa paused, hearing a familiar creak of a bedroom door. Armin paused too. The webcam was pointed towards the back hallway where the bedrooms were. Armin watched intently and Mikasa kept her eyes pinned on the little view of herself in the laptop screen.

Levi came out and passed them without a word, heading to the bathroom. Shortly after, they heard the shower turn on.

“Oh, I thought that was going to be Eren…” Armin whispered once the coast was clear.

Another creak silenced them both again. Eren emerged from Levi’s room and froze in place when he realized he’d been caught. His face flushed through every hue of pink and red that ever existed. In his flustered mess of emotions, he ran across the room and barricaded himself in the bathroom, which left Levi yelling, “Jaeger, what the fuck?!”

“Oh my god, oh my god,” Armin was covering his face from secondhand embarrassment.

Mikasa was beside herself, floating up and out of her body and into the void.

Both of them could hear Eren’s panicked squeals from behind the bathroom door. “Mikasa and Armin! Saw! Us!”

“It’s not like we fucked or some shit like that! Who cares?”

“That answers question number one…” Armin muttered. “Turn me around so I can see his face when he comes out.”

Mikasa adjusted the screen and they both waited patiently, staring at the bathroom door.

Eren left the bathroom, escaping Levi’s wrath only to fall into a new warzone. Armin and Mikasa were both staring intently, waiting for Eren to cough up some explanations.

“Eren,” Mikasa urged him on.

“Oh hey guys, I didn’t see you there,” he tried.

Armin snorted, “Yeah right, Eren. Explain. Now.”

“So… you saw the video. And the comments. And the discourse,” Eren kept his awkward, drawling tone.

“Are they asking about the discourse?” Levi yelled from the bathroom. “It’s a real shit-show!”

Eren made his way over to his friends, leaning down to give Armin a wave. “Hey, Armin,” he greeted as if none of the previous events occurred.

“Eren Jaeger, you should be thankful I’m not over there,” Armin firmly spoke.

“I guess some people got excited seeing Levi and I in the same space,” Eren finally sheepishly explained.

“Excited? People are freaking out!”

“ _You’re_ freaking out,” Eren corrected.

“I mean, there were people who liked the two of you before. But now… You’re blowing up! Humanity’s strength and hope finally meeting up! Can you imagine what’s going to happen at the convention?”

“So what are you going to do?” Mikasa tried to drag out more answers. Specifically, making sure Levi didn’t do anything to defile Eren the previous night.

“We decided to just… go with it.”

“So you’re dating?” Armin asked eagerly.

“No…” Eren answered, though it seemed more like a question. “We’re not going to say anything. We’re just going to let them think what they think.”

Everyone was quiet for a second until Armin shrugged, “I mean, it’s not the worst idea. It sounds fun. You’re technically not lying… you’re just not being explicitly honest about it all.”

“As long as you come clean once you… figure this all out…” Mikasa decided. “And as long as you don’t feel uncomfortable.”

“Of course,” Eren agreed.

“How are you feeling?” Mikasa changed the subject, sort of happy to leave the idea of her brother and Eren _together_.

“Better,” Eren grinned. “It was probably just a passing cold.”

“Still, you should take it easy and rest today.”

“Oh, that reminds me!” Eren grinned. “How was your _date_?”

“Date?!” Armin squeaked in surprise. “Mikasa!” he scolded. “I feel like I’m being left out of all the _chaos_ happening in the Ackerman household!”

It was Mikasa’s turn to blush and stumble over her words. “It… was… fine…”

“First date?” Armin asked.

“Forth.”

The boys reeled and threw their hands up in the air simultaneously. Mikasa was excellent at keeping secrets, but it always left her friends in a tizzy every time they found out what she’d been hiding. She’d rather invest her time talking about them and their lives, not divulging in her own stories.

She figured it was time to come clean. “We always passed each other during morning runs. Then we sort of started running together. And now…”

While she expected a firm scolding, Eren patted her on the back and smiled that sunshine smile. “That’s really great!”

“Mikasa, that’s wonderful!” Armin smiled too. “I’d hug you if I could!”

She was grateful for her friends, even if they were all a bit endearingly strange.

* * *

After scarfing down some breakfast, Eren was shooed to the couch while Mikasa set up the scene for a healthy cooking video. She adjusted the ring light and set out the ingredients. While she busied herself with that, Eren was bundled up on the couch with his laptop. He had his vlogging camera out, filming himself.

“I’ve been quarantined to the couch while Mikasa sets up for a cooking video we’re doing!” he explained. “After that, I’m going to play this game Shelter for a HumanitysHope video!”

“No you’re not, you’re resting!” Mikasa threw a grape at him.

“Oh, that reminds me! I never explained the last vlog. I met Farlan and Isabel from Underground! They invited me to collab with them, so you can expect me to show up on their channel sometime and they agreed to do a video on mine too! If you haven’t heard of them, go check them out! I’ll leave a link in the description!”

Levi came out from the office and asked, “Are you vlogging?”

“Mm-hmm!” Eren confirmed.

Levi strode over to get into the picture; his face pressed close against Eren’s to get them both in the shot. “This brat agreed to collab with me too. Maybe these guys will comment with some suggestions on what they want us to do…”

“Oh, that’s a good idea!” Eren tried his best to stay calm. With Levi’s face so close, he felt like he was going to sputter and stutter. He still hadn’t gotten over his nerves, even after their talk the previous night. It was no longer the fact that Levi was a celebrity to Eren, but the fact that he smelled like honey and made his heart beat a million miles a minute.

“Oi, when will you be done filming?” Levi asked Mikasa.

“An hour or so. Then I have to run to Survey Corps to help Hange with something.”

“That’s suspicious,” Levi mumbled, returning to his office.

“Okay, Eren, ready?” Mikasa dusted off her hands after setting the camera on the tripod.

Eren leapt up from his seat and scurried behind the counter. “What are we making today?”

“Fish tacos for lunch.”

“Oh, that sounds good! What do you want me to do? Make yummy noises and rub my stomach?”

“Ha, ha,” she joked in mock amusement. “You’re going to cook it to prove that even an idiot can make this.”

Eren rubbed is hands together. “Perfect. This idiot is ready. Alright, let’s go!”

“Hey everybody, today we have Eren Jaeger aka HumanitysHope here. As many of you know, he’s staying with me for the upcoming SurveyCon. He’s going to help me make a really easy fish taco for lunch.”

It was really easy too. Eren followed Mikasa’s instructions, offering cheeky comments and snarky replies along the way. As they kept going, he got more excited about eating the food and sort of forgot about the filming. It made for an easy, comfortable video and left Mikasa with some great footage to work with.

After filming, she put everything away and served the tacos for all of them to eat. Eren had never seen her eat so fast; she scarfed down her food and took off as if she were running late. She yelled at Eren to make sure he napped and drank lots of water to help finish off his cold for good as she ran out the door.

“Do you have any idea what she’s doing?” Levi asked.

“Not a clue…” Eren squinted at the door curiously. He knew Mikasa preferred to keep things to herself, especially if they weren’t a big deal. He’d have to remember to ask later.

He scrolled through some new comments on his vlog and saw a lot of requests to do a live show. He’d never done one before but always tuned in when his friends put them on. He added it to the video idea list he kept on his desktop.

“Mind if I sit and watch something with you?” Levi asked, plopping down on the opposite end of the couch. “I’d watch on my computer but it isn’t as efficient as this…”

“Oh, no, go ahead,” Eren watched as Levi hooked his computer up with an HDMI cord to mirror his screen onto the television. He visited everyone’s favorite streaming site and pulled up an anime title.

“Bungou Stray Dogs?” Eren asked.

“Haven’t seen it yet. Heard it’s not bad…” Levi clicked on the first episode. “Have you seen it?”

“No, I’ve been wanting to watch it, though!” Eren set his laptop aside and straightened up for a better view.

They started watching the first episode. And then the second. And then the third. They were hooked on the cast of characters and cool concept.

“I like Ranpo,” Eren decided in between episodes.

“Ranpo? Why?”

“He’s got a sexy voice…” Eren shamelessly decided.

“Is that how you decide who your favorite is?”

“It is today. If that’s all that mattered, who would be your favorite?”

Levi stopped for a second to think until finally deciding, “Kenma Kozume.”

“From _Haikyuu!!_?”

Levi nodded, “Like you said, sexy voice.”

It was a shocker, but to each their own. The two of them kept going on their marathon through the anime. They ended up sharing the blanket Eren had been bundled up in when Eren got a bit warm and Levi got a bit cold. The action wasn’t even thought much upon with their eyes glued to the screen.

Mikasa finally came back with some boxes in hand. She saw the two under a blanket together and quirked an eyebrow. Levi didn’t move a muscle. Eren shuffled to turn and greet her. “Hey!”

“Hey…” she set the boxes down and opened them up. “I’ve got a surprise.”

That made Levi turn. “Since when do you have surprises?”

“Since this,” she pulled out a leather jacket with the Wings of Freedom embellished on the back.

“That’s…” Eren pointed at the jacket with wide eyes.

“That’s the uniform from Attack on Titan,” Levi finished.

“Hange wanted all the YouTubers to wear these uniforms to the convention,” Mikasa explained, throwing the jacket Levi’s way.

He caught it and marveled at it, witnessing his dreams becoming a reality. She pulled out the rest of the uniform and threw it his way too, including the boots.

Eren leapt up from the couch to go through the box with her. “Is there one for all of us?”

“Yeah, here’s yours,” she gently passed him the entire ensemble. “You should try it on. I guessed your size.”

Eren nearly toppled over himself as he rushed towards the bathroom to throw the uniform on.

* * *

If Levi’s eyes could sparkle, they would. He spent hours designing the uniforms, figuring out how to make them functional and attractive. He wanted them to be unique and eye-catching. Now he was holding up the jacket, feeling the leather underneath his fingers and realizing how gorgeous the outfit really was. He’d have to remember to thank Hange later. Or perhaps just give them less shit next time he saw them.

Eren emerged from the bathroom in the outfit and Levi’s eyes really did sparkle then. Eren was wearing his dream, the art piece he’d spent so long putting together. And he was beautiful. Levi had no words to describe it.

The white denim and brown leather straps hugged Eren’s thighs. The boots came up to his knees and the jacket clung to his skin. The vertical maneuvering equipment even looked real and functional.

“How’s it feel?” Mikasa asked, giving Eren the up-and-down look.

“So _cool_!” Eren’s eyes sparkled in that way Levi loved. He was full of passion and excitement over the outfit. “This is seriously fucking sweet!” Eren walked around, testing out the boots and waving his arms around.

“What do you think?” Mikasa spoke lowly to Levi as they watched Eren grab his phone to take selfies.

“Looks good,” Levi managed.

“Really good?” she asked him, the tone in her voice revealing.

He couldn’t deny it now. “Really good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I do hope you enjoyed it! If there is anything you're dying for me to write about (scenes or otherwise), things you want me to change, or things you want me to add let me know in the comments! I appreciate you all so much, thank you for existing <3
> 
> For reference:  
> Ranpo Edogawa - Bungou Stray Dogs  
> Kenma Kozume - Haikyuu!!
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	8. Badger Parade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up! This fic does have some spoilers for the game Shelter! Just figured I'd warn you all!

“Hey guys, it’s Eren aka HumanitysHope! I’m joined today by the one and only HumanitysStrength!” Eren started off the video with a cheerful introduction. Levi gave his own little wave before Eren continued, “Today, we will be playing Shelter! Levi’s been telling me this game is something I’d be interested in so we’re going to give it a go! All I know about this game is that it’s basically a badger simulator? So in the spirit of badgers, I brought these!” Eren held up two sets of… black and white bunny ears.

Levi raised an eyebrow. “Are we… wearing those?”

Levi’s online image was a brooding, critical statue of fortitude with sass, an anime obsession, and the mouth of a sailor. Not a loser in bunny ears.

“It was the closest thing to badger ears I could find,” he chuckled, slipping his on. Levi’s eyes widened at the sight of Eren with those silly bunny ears. Eren really pulled them off, looking innocent and cute with big, eager eyes.

Levi bent his head down so Eren could slip the black pair of ears on his head. “I guess we’re doing this,” Levi came to terms with it.

“Yes, we are! It’ll put us in the mindset of badgers!”

“So we’re going to dig up holes in the garden and eat turnips?” Levi teased.

Eren flicked one of his bunny ears, causing it to wiggle back and forth on Levi’s head. “We’re going to start the game! Okay, here we go! Starting off in a cave! Oh, look, there are little ones! They’re cute! Alright, what’s the goal here?”

“To get out of the cave,” Levi let him know. “You’re walking right into a wall. Off to a great start, Jaeger. Humanity is lucky to have you as their symbol of hope.”

Eren playfully shoved him on the shoulder before returning his attention to the game. “Hey, made it out of the cave!” he cheered. “Let’s go little badger parade!”

As they went through the game, Eren went from relaxed and at ease to on the edge of his seat. “You never warned me this was going to be this way!” Eren scolded Levi with his eyes glued to the screen.

Levi laughed and spoke in a mocking tone, “But it’s got cute badgers!”

“Cute badgers that I keep… _fuck!_ ” he exclaimed, losing another baby badger to the damned eagle. “This pasture is like a fucking minefield of baby badger killers! This… is… so… stressful…! My babies!”

The game inevitably ended with the last of the babies being swooped away by that stupid hawk-eagle thing. The credits went on to dedicate the game to mothers, which got Eren thinking.

“Think that’ll be okay?” Levi asked, helping deconstruct their filming area. They’d set Eren’s camera up in Levi’s office and Levi let him borrow his computer and such. Eren’s heart was going wild with the idea of doing a video together with Levi, but by the end of it, it didn’t seem like a video at all. Eren was having fun with Levi, keeping up some light banter and shooting snarky remarks at each other. Levi was more talkative than usual and made Eren laugh the entire time (even when the game got a bit stressful).

“It’ll be great. Thanks for doing this.”

“You don’t have to thank me… it was fun,” Levi poked Eren on the nose on his way out of the office.

“Where are you off to?” Eren had to ask.

“Survey Corps. Apparently, they have some additional events they’re planning and want to run them by me.”

Within a few minutes, Eren was left alone. Mikasa was at the gym, Levi was working, and Eren had hours of footage to edit through. His mind kept racing around that stupid badger game. The entire time, he was stressing out about keeping those silly babies safe. When the credits thanked mothers at the end, he thought of his mom’s face. He thought of how worried she must have been when she realized he’d travelled halfway across the country without saying anything. Yes, his parents were constantly scolding him and making passive-aggressive remarks about his sexuality, his job, and his future. But he still missed them despite it all.

He balled up on the couch and stared out the window. It was a gorgeous day, not a cloud in the sky. Normally, he’d procrastinate on editing in favor of going for a walk or exploring the new area. Instead, he was procrastinating on editing to sulk.

He pulled off his bunny ears and whipped out his phone, finger hovering over _Mom_. Eren wondered how that conversation would go. Would he tell her about Mikasa and Levi? About how excited he was? How he woke up every day with a smile on his face? How he finally felt like he belonged somewhere?

What would she say? Eren had no idea. He’d felt so detached from his parents, but the distance seemed to put it into perspective. He missed them and he hated it. At least before, they were close in proximity even though they didn’t talk. Now, he was on the other side of the country and they were worried.

Was he a bad son? Was he a terrible person for ditching his parents without saying anything? What if the plane crashed and his last words were something along the lines of _why can’t you just understand_?

Eren stared at his phone until Levi came back, breaking him away from his thoughts. He was still wearing those bunny ears, presenting Eren with some much needed comic relief. He pointed to the ears and cocked his head to the side, snorting with laughter.

Levi squinted at him before slowly reaching up and touching those fuzzy black ears. His face froze with pure terror when he touched them before the words came flying out of his mouth, “I wore these _the whole fucking meeting_. I had _three_ of my bosses present. They were going over serious financials. God, no wonder they all kept staring. Fucking shitty four-eyes probably told everyone not to say anything when I went back to grab my flash drive… _fuck_!”

The snort-filled laughter bubbled up into a whole, hearty attack of laughter. Eren laughed until his lungs hurt. He took a shaky breath in and then laughed some more.

“Shitty brat, making fun of me…” Levi mumbled, tossing the ears on the coffee table. “Glad to brighten up your day. When I walked in, you looked like your dog died.”

“Oh, right…” Eren calmed down from the giggles and looked back at his phone. It had fallen asleep and the screen was black, but the image was still burned into his brain. He came clean to Levi, “I was thinking about calling my mom.”

“Oh shit, did the game make you all sentimental?” Levi grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge. He tossed one to Eren and started gulping down the other.

“Uh, yeah, I guess…” Eren slid his hands over the cold plastic, letting the condensation soak his hand. “You have to love them, right? They’re your parents.”

Levi shrugged, “I suppose. If they constantly make you feel like shit and don’t love you the way you are, you don’t have to force yourself to love them.”

“I just wish they’d stop trying to change me.” Eren made a last minute decision to close out of his phone app in favor of Snap Chat. He flicked through his friends’ stories. Armin posted a photo of a cup of coffee with the caption: _Third Cup!_ The Underground channel Snap Chat showed Isabel and Farlan playing Just Dance together, poking fun at each other’s dance moves. Krista held up some makeup products by her face with the caption: _Thanks for the gifts!_

He wondered if any of them suffered the same parental strife as he did. Eren looked up to see Levi had taken a seat on the couch next to him. He slung his arm over the back and toyed with the plastic water bottle. “If you miss them, you should call. But don’t beat yourself up over it. I don’t know what your situation is, but if it’s that bad at home maybe you shouldn’t go back.”

Eren breathed out a laugh, “I’m not sure I could afford anything around here.”

“Well, you’re free to stay here as long as you want. I know Mikasa doesn’t mind.”

Eren shook his head, still laughing at the possibility of actually living there, “I’m no freeloader.”

“Of course you’re not. But your presence has definitely… livened up the place.”

Mikasa came in through the front door and stared the two boys down. “You look cozy,” she observed.

“Eren’s homesick or some shit.”

Mikasa set down her gym bag and cocked her head to the side. “Homesick? Really? Even though your parents treat you like shit?”

“My mom sounded worried when she called the day I got here…” Eren thought back. It had been the first time she’d sounded so concerned in a long time. It seemed like she was guilt-tripping him into coming back into the vicious cycle of building a relationship again.

“Is she still unsure about… everything you choose to do?” Mikasa sat on the coffee table in front of him.

“She’s better than my dad, I think,” Eren thought through the myriad of fights and arguments. “But I think she thinks she can ‘fix’ me.”

“You don’t need to be fixed,” Levi suddenly cut in. “You’re fine just the way you are.”

Eren didn’t have time to swoon over Levi’s words. Mikasa added in, “Exactly. She should love you the way you are.” Mikasa took his hands in hers and gave them a supportive squeeze. “You’re doing great. They shouldn’t be so upset.”

“I told him he should just live here,” Levi shrugged.

“You should,” she agreed. “It’s better with you around here.”

“Less quiet,” Levi offered.

“Less boring,” Mikasa nodded. “Plus, everyone here loves you. But you should do what you want to.”

Eren wasn’t sure what she meant by ‘everyone here’. Did she mean all their friends? Or specifically her and Levi? It didn’t really matter because his heart was full of warmth and encouragement. He nodded. “Alright, I’ll think about it. But first, I should still call her.”

The two siblings nodded and Eren let himself out onto the balcony. He sat on the little padded bench and finally tapped on his phone to call his mom. It rang a few times until she finally picked up after the fourth or fifth ring. “Eren,” she gasped. “You’re calling?”

“Yeah, just to check up on you guys,” he explained. “How’s it going over there?”

“Your father is working all hours of the day, as always. I’ve been keeping busy too, you know. It’s about time to start gardening. The weather has been stormy since you’ve been gone.”

“It’s been gorgeous here. I haven’t been to the beach yet, but I’m dying to visit.”

“It’ll be like the time the three of us went to the beach,” his mom reminisced. “The day you told us…”

It wasn’t a day Eren liked to remember, coming out to his parents as pansexual. He had to explain it in full detail and the evening ended with a slap to the face from his father. “Yeah,” he ended that conversation as soon as possible.

His mom tried, “Have you met anyone…?” Any _girl_ she probably wanted to ask.

“I’ve met lots of people, Mom,” he vaguely answered. “Tons of YouTubers who do what I do. And I’ll meet a ton more at the convention.”

“Where are you staying? Somewhere safe?”

“With Mikasa and Levi.”

“Mikasa, that girl from the internet you always talk to?”

“Yep.”

“And who’s Levi?”

“Her brother.”

“Are they nice?”

“Very nice, Mom. You don’t have to worry about me getting kidnapped by them or anything.” Actually, she probably did. With the offer on the table for him to stay longer than the planned month, he wasn’t sure what to do.

“And what’s this convention-thing going to be like?”

Eren wanted to smack himself on the forehead; it was going to turn into a very long explanation. Well, at least she was trying to understand and reach out.

* * *

Mikasa was glaring at her brother, wondering what was going on in his head. She knew he couldn’t be toying with Eren, which soothed most of her fears. Levi wasn’t stupid enough to do that.

“Stop looking at me like that,” he mumbled, flipping through Netflix.

“Like what?” she challenged.

“Like you want to kill me or some shit like that.”

Mikasa glanced outside to where Eren was and back at her brother, “What are you doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean,” she rolled her eyes at him. “What are you doing with Eren?”

He shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? Do you like him or not?” He just stared at her with that stupid, expressionless expression on his face. She nearly growled at him. “Levi,” she warned.

“I like him,” he confessed softly. “He’s… different.”

“Good different?”

“Good different.”

She raised an eyebrow at him, unsure. He’d never really dated before, or at least that she knew of. She guessed he avoided it due to his online popularity, but Eren was different. Eren knew how much Levi loved his work and admired him for it, even. Eren could even participate. It seemed too perfect.

And if Eren were with anyone, Mikasa wouldn’t mind it being Levi. He was a cold, emotionless ass most of the time but he had is moments. He always came through when you needed him.

“Don’t hurt him,” she threatened him, “You know I could beat you up.”

“Whatever,” he scoffed. “It’d be a close match, sure. But I’d win.”

“Don’t even try me,” Mikasa gave him a punch on the shoulder before heading out to the balcony.

Eren’s call had ended and he was staring off into the distance. From their balcony, they could see the tops of a lot of the shops around and the beach was in the far distance.

It was a gorgeous day, Mikasa failed to notice after having so many in a row. The birds sang happily amongst themselves. A gentle breeze graced her face. There were some playful, puffy clouds strolling across the bright blue sky. Eren helped her appreciate the little things, like a beautiful day. He was sort of magical like that.

She sat down next to him but kept her eyes trained on the horizon. “How’d it go?”

He barked out a self-depreciating laugh, “It started off well. Then I told her I was thinking about staying here. She told me I should, that they didn’t need me there anyway.”

Mikasa pursed her lips and put an arm around his shoulders, drawing him in for a side-hug. He leaned into her, resting his face on her shoulder. His stomach heaved a little and his breath hitched, telling her he was crying. She didn’t acknowledge it, though. She let him cry onto her shoulder. While he was hurting now, she knew of all the comfort and love he could have living with her and her brother. She knew she and Levi would make it better. Together, they’d give him the family he always needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I do hope you enjoyed it! I'm curious if you guys are wanting smut in this fic or not, let me know what you think! I'm cool with it either way! 
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	9. Nerves

Levi passed through the living room to get to the kitchen. He’d made the trip dozens of times that day, unable to focus or even think straight. He attempted to be nonchalant about it, fixing a new cup of tea or grabbing some kind of snack that he wouldn’t even eat. Every trip from his office to the kitchen gave him the opportunity to check on Eren.

He was bundled up on the couch leaning on Mikasa, both of them absorbed into some reality television show. Mikasa didn’t look like she was watching the show as much as she was watching over Eren, asking him if he needed anything or readjusting the blanket over the two of them.

Levi kept wondering if he should do something. His inner chivalrous, romantic screamed at him to do _something_ but the moment never felt right. He’d just scurry back to his office and barricade himself in for another thirty minutes.

This particular trip, Mikasa shot him a look that said: _You better fucking do something or get out of the way, you weirdo._

He rolled his eyes at her and leaned on the counter, trying to follow whatever show they were watching. It was odd that Eren could spend the afternoon in tears over what his mother said to him over the phone and then become completely invested in the shitty show that consisted of a lot of yelling and personal interviews.

Levi ended up asking, stupidly, “Is this the one with the blood orange guy?”

Eren snorted. Levi smiled victoriously and uncontrollably.

“Project Runway?” Mikasa rolled _her_ eyes at _him_ this time. “It’s Say Yes to the Dress.”

“Is it good?”

“Awful,” they both responded at the same time.

Eren clarified, “But it’s addicting. And it’s funny when there’s drama.”

“Way too addicting,” Mikasa agreed. “Why are we still watching this?”

“I have no idea,” Eren shook his head and started laughing. It was like music to the Ackerman siblings’ ears.

“It’s still nice out. Still want to go to the beach? We could head to the pier… watch the sunset… get some ice cream…” Mikasa suggested hopefully, all the options causing Eren’s lights to light up like stars.

Eren didn’t even need to say yes. Mikasa shot Levi a look and Levi sighed, “I’ll grab the keys.”

“Who said you’re invited?” she teased with a serious tone.

“Who said I’d ever let you drive my car?” he teased back, his tone equally stoic.

“The guy who’s too neurotic about keeping it clean,” she answered with a smirk.

Well, she wasn’t lying.

“ _Guys_ ,” Eren whined like a little kid urging his parents on, “Let’s _go._ ” Vlogging camera in hand, Eren ushered the siblings out of the apartment so the three of them could get a move on.

The afternoon was drifting slowly into dusk as they drove towards the coast. With the convention nearing, Levi wondered if they’d run into anyone who knew who they were.

After they parked and walked a few blocks, they made it to the main area along the pier. There were tons of shops and bars still open with plenty of tourists and locals mingling around. Eren had his vlogging camera out, trying to get as much footage as possible. A happy, cheerful Eren beat a defeated, depressed Eren any day.

Levi followed Mikasa and Eren, his mind drifting to dangerous places. _I bet Eren would look great in a swim suit. He’d look great in anything. God, when did I get so sappy? Fuck!_ He nearly ran into a pole.

The three of them slipped inside the ice cream shop, bought three cones, and strolled along the pier. Eren leaned over the railing to get a closer view of the sea. Levi instinctively pinched onto the hem of his shirt in case he leaned too far and fell. Mikasa snorted in response to the motion, rolling her eyes. Eren didn’t notice, as he was too excited over the cresting waves and how the sunset glimmered off the water.

Levi marveled at Eren’s sparkly eyes and gaping mouth. An awe-struck Eren was cute too.

The inevitable whispers caught Levi’s ear. With all their fans gathering for SurveyCon, it was only a matter of time until a group’s conversation caught his ear.

“Is that Levi? With Eren?” A growly voice in Levi’s head responded, _No shit, Sherlock._

“Think they’re actually together or are they just faking it for views?” A sarcastic voice answered that one, _Yeah, we’re just starving for your attention. Fuckers._

“I don’t know. It seems legit. Does it matter?” The voice in his head just sighed with agreement.

“Eren only had a million subscribers until he started hanging around Levi. Levi’s old news now too. It’s definitely just for views.” The voice in his head taunted him, _It wasn’t so long ago that you thought the same thing, you know. But now, it’s different._

“Think I could ask Eren out then?” His headspace grew growly yet again, _No way in hell you motherfucker. That shitty brat is mine._

Oh. Shit. He never even thought those words before. Well, too late to suppress it now.

Levi sighed and glanced over to Mikasa and Eren. Mikasa definitely heard it. Eren was still gabbing to his vlogging camera about the ocean, not paying attention. In an act of stubborn retaliation for their ill-toned comments, Levi snaked his arm around Eren’s waist and pulled their hips together. Eren jumped up in surprise and whined, “Levi, you almost made me drop my camera into the water!”

Mikasa came over and rested her hand on Eren’s shoulder. “You’re right, Eren. Let’s throw Levi into the water so he can learn his lesson.”

“Let’s not and say we did,” Levi suggested flatly, not taking his eyes off the sunset.

“He might struggle, but he’s small enough. We could do it,” she continued to tease with an equally emotionless tone.

Levi grumbled, “Just watch the fucking sunset.” He glanced up to Eren who had tears in his eyes. Levi wasn’t going to mention or draw Mikasa’s attention it. He squeezed Eren a touch closer to him; hopefully the gesture could speak the words Levi knew he couldn’t. _You’re not alone. I’m here for you. I care._

* * *

Eren’s eyes dropped little by little, growing unbearably heavy on the drive home. He struggled to stay awake. Mikasa rested her head on his shoulder, snoozing deeply. When they pulled up to the apartments, Eren heaved her up bridal style and followed Levi inside. Eren tucked her into bed right away and she sleepily mumbled something along the lines of, “Thanks, Eren.”

Eren carefully shut her door and stalked out to the living room, forgetting that his air mattress had been destroyed. Oh, right. He was about to crash on the couch when Levi caught him by the wrist and pulled him straight to his bedroom. He threw Eren onto the bed and Levi plopped into his desk chair. “Sleep, you need it,” Levi commanded in a low tone.

“You do too, you know,” Eren protested slightly, though he wasn’t going to press it any further. He slunk under the covers and arranged the pillows until he fell into heavenly comfort. Even though he was exhausted, he just couldn’t fall asleep. His mind started to race with questions and thoughts. With the convention growing near, Eren hummed with wonder, “Levi?”

“Hm?”

“What’s all going to happen at SurveyCon?”

“Didn’t you get an email or some shit that laid it all out for you?”

“Well, yeah, but you know more about this than I do.”

“What, are you nervous?”

Eren hummed but didn’t answer. He wouldn’t want to admit that there was an ounce of anxiety mixed in with his excitement. There would be so many people that knew him and looked up to him, and he was afraid they’d realize that he wasn’t anyone special. He wasn’t someone to view as a role model or someone worth knowing. Really, he was just an average guy.

Levi huffed, “Are these deep, late night talks going to be a thing now?”

“It appears so,” Eren smiled. He couldn’t help it. He enjoyed getting to know the Levi beyond the screen.

Levi slunk out of his chair and sat next to Eren on the bed. He gave him a slightly aggressive flick on the cheek. “Did I do it?”

Eren furrowed his brow. “Do what?”

“Snap the sense into you? You shouldn’t be nervous. All your fans are excited to meet you. They’re all people who you’ve made smile, people who feel a special connection to you. They’re your friends, not people you need to fear.”

Eren clutched onto the blankets a little harder. “I heard those guys at the pier.” He tried to ignore it, to forget about, but he couldn’t. “I don’t want you to think I’m using you or something like that.”

Levi snorted softly, “I know. Don’t worry about shit like that.”

For some reason Levi’s casual take on the matter helped Eren forget about it for a while. He just didn’t want to give Levi a reason to resent him, a reason for Levi to pull away. Yes, they were playing along with a stupid Internet ship but Eren feared something deeper was going on. He developed a yearning, a wish for something more than pretend. It was wrong on so many levels, but Eren craved for more. He wanted this man he’d Internet stalked for his entire life to yearn for him too. He wanted this man, who was ten years his senior, to crave for more too. He wanted Mikasa’s older brother to look at him as more than a wishful, somewhat entertaining brat.

Before he knew what was happening, Eren was leaning in towards Levi until their faces were centimeters apart. It wasn’t intentional whatsoever, but it happened and now he was facing the awkward repercussions. Did his breath smell bad? Did he have any repulsive acne? Was he blinking too much? Not enough? Levi was staring with eyes of hidden emotions and Eren found himself a sweating, panicking mess.

“Ah, sorry,” he pulled away and slumped into bed. He shielded his face with the blankets and started rambling, “Well, I’m really tired and I’m sure you are too. The convention preparation starts tomorrow so we should get a ton of sleep. They’ll need our help to set up tables, set out merchandise, probably clean, I don’t know. We better be ready for anything. Oh, I’ll have to catch up on posting my vlogs too. Busy day!” The word vomit was atrocious but it prevented the infamous awkward silence.

“Okay, Jaeger…” Levi must have decided to let it go. Eren was thankful for that, and even more thankful when Levi returned to his desk and started working on his laptop. He took a breath of relief and clamped his eyes shut, praying for the sandman to punch him in the face repeatedly until he was knocked out for good.

* * *

Levi kept running his fingers through his hair and he looked at the clock. How long had he been browsing Reddit? Too fucking long, apparently. Still, he needed the distraction. Eren had gotten so close, seemed so… interested. It took every little ounce of nonexistent willpower Levi possessed to keep himself from leaning in and stealing a kiss from Eren’s waiting lips.

He had to remind himself of a few things. Eren probably didn’t want an older, boring man. Eren probably didn’t want his best friend’s brother. Eren didn’t want an obsessive workaholic who hid his true self from the world and his behind a mysterious façade. Eren needed someone lively, fun, and young. He needed someone that would do stupid shit with him and someone that would smile widely at him.

Perhaps Eren thought he was falling for HumanitysStrongest, a persona Levi used to shroud his shortcomings. Perhaps he needed to show his true colors and distance himself before tarnishing Eren’s golden purity.

Shit, that’d be fucking difficult when they slept in the same bed.

Levi turned his attention back to Reddit and then somehow got sucked into an hour of obsessing over Attack on Titan. How dare his co-workers shove him out of his own project? Still, they updated him on any changes or updates they made and they weren’t doing half-bad. Levi couldn’t find anything to complain about, which only fueled his frustration. He then looked over emails of updates about SurveyCon but couldn’t focus on a single one. And, finally, he’d arrived at a video he’d watched many times in a row. The Pokémon video featuring a shirtless Eren.

Levi glanced back at his bed and confirmed Eren was asleep before plugging in his headphones and letting his mind run fucking wild. A shirtless Eren occupied his every thought, specifically a shirtless Eren towering over him and encasing him in those perfect arms. The Eren of his dreams shielded him from the anxiety and panic. Dreamy Eren left healing kisses down Levi’s neck and shoulders, soothing hands grazing over Levi’s bare skin and sending shivers in their wake. Playful fingers fluttering over his erection, tempting him with promises of long, sleepless, fucking wonderful nights of lovemaking.

Levi snapped out of his thoughts and snorted. Lovemaking? God, he was turning into such a fucking sap. A fucking sap that wanted Eren to fuck him silly.

He could picture a rougher version of Eren, pinning him to the wall and drawing out those dirty sounds Levi refused to let out for anyone other than Eren. Levi pictured this fiery, passionate Eren leaving bites and sucking bruises into his neck for everyone to see. He pictured the dirtiest phrases leaving Eren’s mouth. _See that, Levi? The camera is on. Now we can show everyone that you’re_ mine. _Won’t that be fun?_ Eren would grab Levi by the hair and force him to look into the camera. He’d lean in to whisper, _Smile, baby. Now they’ll all know whom you belong to. Isn’t that great?_

No, that wouldn’t work. Eren wouldn’t say ‘whom’. Levi sighed and grabbed at his own hair again. He was doing it again; fantasizing the different ways Eren could take him. Really, in the end, it never mattered how it would happen. It didn’t matter if he thought about taking Eren from behind and biting into the supple flesh of his ass. It didn’t matter if he thought about Eren fucking him over the kitchen counter, spanking him with a wooden spoon. Levi just wanted him. And he wanted him badly.

He let his head drop onto his desk and he stifled a groan. The fucking brat was going to kill him without even realizing it. Levi looked over to Eren’s sleeping form again and sighed. Fuck it.

He crawled into bed and curled up against Eren. If Eren were going to be the death of him, it wouldn’t be the worse way to go. Levi would walk straight into his grave with a big ole fucking grin on his face. Even just being in the brat’s proximity made the sun shine a little brighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I do hope you enjoyed it! I've heard your demands and have decided to add some smutty chapters in this fic, so stay tuned for that. If any of you are wondering, I think this fic will have a lot of switching, so there won't be a specific top or bottom but I'll make sure to give a little heads up on what's going on in beginning notes when the time comes!
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	10. #squadJaeger // #squadLevi

Eren hummed and checked his phone for comments on his most recent video, _Strength + Hope’s Badger Babies!_ _feat. HumanitysStrongest!!!_ He smiled as he scrolled through them all.

**The_Raven:** _This was hilarious!! You should do a live-stream Q &A soon, Eren!!_

That one made him grin with inspiration. He’d love to do a live-stream and had wanted to do one for a long time, but his part-time job and video editing swallowed up all his time. But now, he had a copious amount of time aside from helping out with the convention and attending it, which brought him to where they were heading.

He glanced out the window to see Survey Corps. The building was huge with windows that looked more like mirrors. Their emblem stood largely and proudly on the front of the building, blue and white wings intertwining. Eren marveled at the sight, thrilled to be seeing it all with his own two eyes.

Levi pulled the car into an underground parking lot. Levi chose that moment to grumble, “By the way, why are you here, Mikasa?”

Mikasa had been leaning over Eren’s shoulder, resting her head on it and overlooking the comments he was scrolling through. “Where Eren goes, I go,” was her only explanation. It seemed good enough for Levi because he didn’t ask any further.

That was Eren’s cue to turn and grin at her. “Thanks for helping out, Mikasa!”

“I’m sure if I didn’t come with, I’d get an earful from Hange…” she mumbled with a hint of a smile. “Levi already did when he tried to flake.”

“I don’t see why I couldn’t use one of my sick days for a pre-mature headache,” he complained. “Hange said they’d drag my ass to work today even if my head popped off.”

“Somehow I believe they would…” Mikasa added thoughtfully. “They’d probably film it too… for research or something…”

“Gross,” was all Levi had to say. He led the group to an elevator and took them to the main floor of the building. Eren marveled at it all, the modern-industrial building had a beautiful architectural flair. The windows brought in tons of natural lighting and the entire place was decorated in greens, blues, whites, and greys. He couldn’t believe he was stepping foot in such a place, a place he’d only dreamed of looking at in real life. Now he was being escorted through the halls, following after HumanitysStrongest himself.

Mikasa poked him on the arm. “You okay? If you crane your neck back any more, you’ll snap it off.”

Eren tilted his head back into place and sheepishly grinned, “Just excited, that’s all! Can I vlog here?”

“Of course!” Mikasa gave him the go ahead to whip out his camera and get some footage.

“Mikasa and I are walking through Survey Corps to spend the day helping put together the convention!

Levi stopped walking and Eren ran right into him. In the mix, Levi grabbed Eren’s vlogging camera and took back off at a quick stride. “Seeing as Eren forgot to mention me, I’m taking over. Disregard the brats running after me.”

“Leeee-viiii!” Eren whined, chasing after the surprisingly fast short-stack. He honestly enjoyed the chase, loving the way Levi’s hair bounced with every step. Eren reached out, close to grabbing the hood on his sweatshirt before the doors burst open and they were in the huge convention room.

Eren stopped in his tracks to gaze at the scene. The ceilings were high and the room was vast, several tables were set up like a maze and a huge stage sat up front and center underneath a huge Survey Corps logo. Every footstep and voice echoed.

“My favorite trio!” Hange yelped at their entrance, rushing over from wherever they were before (Eren was too distracted to tell). They leapt onto Eren and squeezed him into a big hug first while cooing, “What a cutie you are.” Next, they moved on to Mikasa and gave her a pat on the head, “You did well, Mikasa. I figured if you couldn’t get him here, no one could.” With that, they turned to Levi and smirked, “Can’t run away from me, Levi. I’ve got my secret weapons right here.” They hugged onto both Eren and Mikasa that time with a huge smile.

He rolled his eyes and pointed Eren’s camera at the three of them, “The three idiots, coming to a convention near you.”

“Idiots?” Hange stuck out their tongue and sarcastically added, “I’m hurt. Anyway, here are some maps. Erwin left some tasks for you three to do at your tables, mostly cleaning and a little heavy lifting. You’re the first ones here, I’m sure more people will want your help as they day goes on.”

“My table…?” Eren wondered, mostly to himself. He had his own table at a YouTube convention. He had to repeat the statement to himself inside his head a few times until it fully sank in. This whole thing was really happening and it was intimidating as hell.

They walked over towards the front of the room and Eren’s eyes lit up when he realized his table was near Levi’s. Okay, maybe it wasn’t so intimidating. After all, he wouldn’t have to go through it all by himself.

His eyes then fluttered over two large cardboard boxes sitting atop the plastic table. Mikasa put a hand on his shoulder and explained, “Armin and I knew you couldn’t afford your own merchandise… so…”

Eren opened the boxes and started pawing through everything. There were posters of his profile picture, the one where he wore a huge and messy flower crown, ready to be signed. In another box there were black shirts that said ‘#squadjaeger’ on them in white lettering. Underneath those were even more shirts that were a soft pink color with ‘#squadjaeger’ written in white as well.

“This is just like…” Eren ran his hands over the lettering.

“Levi’s, I know. We thought it’d be… appropriate, given recent circumstances. And Levi doesn’t care,” she replied. “So…?”

Eren was close to tears. Not only did he have merchandise to offer but there were also decorations packed away as well for his table. He couldn’t have thanked her enough with words so he just wrapped her up in a tight hug. “Thank you,” he whispered.

“Of course. We’d do anything for you,” she returned.

While he could have cried in her arms for a good half hour, he decided to get to work on setting his table up instead. There wasn’t much to it and soon after they were put in charge of Levi’s table while Levi went off to clean something.

Eren stood back and grinned, wanting to laugh at how the two tables compared and contrasted. It looked like Squad Levi versus Squad Jaeger. Levi’s black and emerald green shades went surprisingly well with Eren’s black and pastel pink shades. He took a Snap Chat of the scene and added it to his story with no caption; he was too excited to really think one up.

“Eren Jaeger!” a familiar voice shouted in a mock scolding tone.

“Armin!” Eren returned, both of them crashing into a long-awaited embrace.

“Dammit, Jaeger, you have years worth of explaining to do. But for now, I missed you.”

“I know, I know,” Eren squeezed his friend a little tighter. “I missed you too.”

They pulled away and Armin noticed Eren’s table. “You got the packages on time?”

Mikasa nodded, “Thankfully.”

“So… What do you think?” Armin was waiting for an answer with a huge smile.

“It’s… amazing!” Eren nearly squealed. He really felt like he was living in a dreamland, all thanks to his friends.

“Hey, jackass, going to ignore us?” Another voice caught Eren’s attention. He whirled around to see Jean, Sasha, and Connie walking in with bright smiles. Just behind them were Krista and Ymir.

Eren’s heart couldn’t have gotten any fuller or warmer. He flicked Jean on the forehead for calling him a jackass and gave his respective greetings to the rest of his little Internet squad.

In a hushed voice, Krista asked, “So what’s going on with you and… Levi?”

“Yeah, it’s about time someone explains what’s going on there. You’ve been sidestepping our questions,” Jean squinted accusingly.

“I, uh…” Eren glanced between his group of friends and the almost-matching tables.

“Levi’s my brother,” Mikasa interrupted, causing all attention to fall onto her.

“That’s _right_! You’ve been keeping that from us!” Krista burst.

“Yeah, what’s the big idea?” Connie added. “Keeping us in the dark like that.”

“I never lied,” Mikasa shrugged. “You all knew I had a brother. You just never asked about him. Well, Armin did.”

“I mean… it’s true…” Armin agreed with a sly smile.

Her completely logical comment as met with a series of grunts, eye rolls, and shrugs. She had a point and no one could really deny it.

“Geez, well I’m going to go help Marco set up. He’s across this whole fucking room,” Jean rolled his shoulders and waved to the group.

“Eren,” a sharp voice cut through the chatty group. “Get off your lazy ass and come help me.” Levi stood with arms crossed and his foot tapping on the floor impatiently.

Something struck through Eren’s heart, a sharp jab that stunned him for a moment before waving to his friends and following Levi throughout the maze of tables and displays.

“What do you need help with?” Eren dared to ask.

Levi grumbled something and yanked Eren into a janitor’s closet. Levi pointed to the top shelf where a bottle of blue cleaning fluid sat amongst other dusty bottles of who-knows-what. “Erwin puts it there to frustrate me,” Levi mumbled.

Eren snorted with laughter and reached over Levi to grab the bottle. In the process, he ended up pressing his chest against Levi’s face and pinning him to the back shelves. Once he realized they’d been so close, he pulled away rapidly and dropped the bottle right on top of Levi’s head.

“Ah, Levi, I’m so sorry,” he rushed in the most flustered tone. “Here let me, I can, uh…” He wasn’t sure what to do with his hands. He went to pick up the bottle but then wanted to make sure Levi’s head was okay. His hands were flying up and down until one of them brushed up against Levi’s crotch and Eren jolted back with a flushed face. In his mess of actions, his back hit the door and it fell shut behind them, closing them in the intimate space.

 _Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck_ Eren couldn’t stop cursing in his head. Of all things he could have possibly done to embarrass himself, he somehow did. Yet somewhere in that awkward chaos, Levi’s hand found Eren’s hip and rested there softly. Eren’s hand fell on Levi’s shoulder and remained there. The two were interlocked in a tension-filled standoff, both of them staring at the other waiting for one of them to make some kind of move.

The cursing didn’t cease in Eren’s head. Levi was brilliantly handsome and perfect in every way Eren could have ever imagined. He even smelled wonderful. All those nights Eren spent fantasizing about his idol came rolling back through his head. There were times when he felt frustrated and angry, emotions he coped with by imagining fucking Levi until both of them wouldn’t be able to walk the next day. There were times when he felt lonely and wanted to cry, which always ended in fantasies about a comforting, loving Levi who made him feel a little better with every thrust.

Levi helped Eren through a lot of his hardships in an indirect, lewd sort of way. And now they were so close and Eren’s blush refused to fade. He felt transparent under Levi’s gaze, which was frustrating because Levi kept a stony exterior that was impossible to read.

Eren hated the knot inside his heart, the one that couldn’t decide if this was admiration or something more. He wanted it to be more. He wanted Levi to see him as more than a fan, more than his sister’s bratty friend.

“Shit, Eren, are you okay?” Levi squinted and observed Eren’s paling face and sweat-soaked skin.

No, he wasn’t okay. He was falling terribly hard and fast.

White noise flooded Eren’s ears and his entire body felt heavy and drowsy. His eyes drooped shut, as if he hadn’t slept for days on end.

“Breathe, in, out, breathe,” Levi repeated softly. He took Eren’s hands and helped him sit on the floor.

Sitting definitely helped but Eren still felt queasy and weak, he could barely speak. The white noise drowned out all other sound and he had to really focus on Levi in order to hear what he was really saying.

“Eren, do you need to go to the hospital? Do you faint normally? Should I go get someone?”

Eren shook his head and tried to focus on breathing. No, he didn’t want to go to the hospital. He had an entire convention to attend the next day and didn’t plan on missing it. He’d die before missing it. Not only did he get to attend the convention and meet the people that gave him everything, he got to do it standing by the man who inspired it all.

Levi pulled Eren into his lap and let Eren lay his head on his shoulder. The proximity helped Eren feel a little more stable and the white noise slowly faded. His vision blurred so he shut his eyes and tried to focus on the things around him.

His nose was buried in Levi’s hair, which smelled like the honey-scented shampoo Eren borrowed often. His arms clutched around Levi’s smaller yet firm frame.

“Eren, hold on, I’m going to go get someone…” Levi stated after a few minutes.

“No, please,” Eren stopped him, holding him a little tighter. “Can we stay like this? For a little longer? I’m fine, I just need… this.”

It was embarrassing but true. Eren couldn’t state exactly what it was that made him feel so much better, but he didn’t want to leave it. He didn’t want to move at all. He wanted to stay cooped up in that stupid janitor’s closet all day with that stupid bottle of blue cleaner rolling around the floor as long as he could do it in Levi’s arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *thank you all for your comments regarding the next chapter!! I hope you enjoy it!! Let me know if you'd be interested in another live-stream type video in the future!*
> 
> As always, thank you for reading! When the content gets a bit dirtier, I will write a little bit about who's topping/bottoming in the beginning notes so you have an idea of what is going on (or if you'd prefer to skip that specific chapter, I don't think the smutty ones will contain any important plot points or anything like that). Thank you ^^
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	11. Livestream #1

“Mikasa and I will be back in a few hours.” Levi tucked Eren into a blanket on the couch and plopped his laptop into Eren’s lap.

“Why your laptop? What happened to mine?” Eren cocked his head to the side.

“You forgot to charge yours. Go ahead and use that one.”

“This better have some raunchy porn on it…” Eren smirked, opening up the lid.

Levi quirked an eyebrow and smirked back, “It just might.” With that, he left Eren alone on the couch.

After fainting at Survey Corps, Levi and Mikasa decided it’d be best to take Eren back to the apartment to rest while they finished up helping for the day. They kept saying it’d be better to be safe than sorry, telling Eren that if he kept pushing himself he might not end up attending the convention at all. So, he was convinced to stay cooped up in the apartment for the rest of the day (much to his own frustration).

He pulled out his phone and decided if he was going to be stuck on the couch, he might as well be productive. He pulled up twitter and tweeted: _Spontaneous Q &A live-stream ~ two hours!_

In those hours of waiting, he pulled up YouNow and got it all set up to go and broadcast over all his social media pages. It wasn’t the first live-stream he’d done; he often went on Twitch and played games while conversing with the audience. This time was different because he was just sitting on the couch, ready to talk about whatever came up in the chat-box.

It got him a little nervous, simply waiting for people to join in and start asking questions. There were always the obvious anxieties. What if no one showed up? What if someone said something mean? He didn’t have any moderators or anything to distract him from the comments.

It took him one second of courage and a click to start the live-stream. The video came up and he waved to the camera, “Hey guys! I’ve been banished to the apartment for the rest of the day, so I figured I’d spend some time with you guys! Tell me, how are you? What’s going on?”

He watched as the number of people viewing grew by the hundreds. His heart swelled to know that he wasn’t alone and the happiest, nicest comments started pouring in through the chat-box.

“Wow, I’m so glad so many of you could join me! I was a little worried I didn’t give enough notice!” he threw his hands up in the air with excitement. “I figured I could answer some of your questions and just sort of hang out with you guys for a few hours. I’m here all by myself for a bit, Mikasa and Levi are helping set up for SurveyCon. I wasn’t feeling well so I was forced back here to recuperate! So, I’ll just sort of pick out random questions or questions a lot of you have asked and we can go from there! Let’s see…”

He scanned through the comments, which was difficult. They were flying up the screen as more and more people sent emoticons and funny little messages.

**LoveSick:** _Eren, what was your favorite game to play as a little kid?_

“Oh, that’s a cute question!” he exclaimed, “Thanks for asking LoveSick! Hm… I grew up—and still live—in a really small town, so there was never much to do. There still isn’t much to do there either! I played Pokémon a lot as a kid. My mom would always tell me to go play outside so I took my Game Boy Advance and hid out in this pasture behind my house. That’s outside enough, right?” He chuckled and continued to scroll down the list.

As he looked through, he kept talking to fill the silence, “The lighting in here is amazing… and the weather is always so nice here. If any of you have been following my Snap Story, I’m obsessed with the Geofilters they have here. They’re all so cool!”

**coffeesoul:** _what would you say to your old self of when you started your youtuber activity now that you're gone so far?_

“Oh wow, that’s a deep question, coffeesoul! Hm… what would I say to myself when I first started making YouTube videos now? Probably to not get too discouraged and not to be so nervous! I can’t even watch my first few videos, they’re so cringe-y! I look so nervous! It’s way too embarrassing!”

 **Shadow_Weaver:** _have your parents supported you as a YouTuber? do they watch your videos?_

Eren bit his lip at that question, but figured a little venting might help ease the turmoil in his heart over his parents. After all, there could be some aspiring YouTubers out there who are in the same situation he is. “Shadow_Weaver, I don’t think my parents have watched any of my videos! Which is fine, I’d be embarrassed if they did!” He laughed a little to ease the tension in his voice. “Though, I could picture my dad saying something about how the lighting is too dark and he can’t see my face better. My mom would probably scold me for swearing so much. I bet it’d be sort of funny to see them watch any one of my videos! They don’t really get the whole YouTube career thing, but hopefully someday they will!”

He thought correctly, talking about it did help. In no time at all, he was scanning through comments of people who were going through the exact same things. He even laughed a little at how some people were complaining about their technologically impaired parents who couldn’t even operate their own smart phones.

 **Mymy** : _Could you make a collab with krista doing a makeup tutorial or hair tutorial on you?? GIVE US A TOUR OF YOUR NEW PLACE??_

Eren laughed, “You guys want to see Krista put makeup on me? That’s awesome! I bet she’d totally be up for that! Here… let me text her…”

Eren dug his phone out of the couch crease and rapidly sent her a text to ask about it. “Okay guys, let’s see… she normally responds within a few seconds…”

His phone vibrated and she replied as quickly as ever. “Here we go, Mymy! She said she’d be up for it! She lives around here so we’d be able to do that sometime this week! As far as a tour… maybe I should do a video about that too! I’m tucked in a blanket right now, but…” He held up Levi’s laptop and rotated it around the room to show off the kitchen and living room. “If any of you watch Mikasa’s videos, you’ll recognize this space! There’s a bathroom right there, and the bedrooms are down that hallway!”

 **asuka1915:** _so eren,i know u moved out from ur old apartment, are u gonna stay permanently in town or move back to ur old town after this whole convention's over?_

“Should I stay or should I go?” Eren sang quietly to himself, thinking through his reply. “I’m not sure, asuka1915! Mikasa said I’d be free to stay here as long as I wanted. I think she’d rather have me stay here, to be honest. That way she has someone to test all her super healthy recipes on. And the old lady at my old apartment building said she could ship my the rest of my stuff… I guess I’ll know for sure after the convention! Which, I hope you’re all going to by the way!”

 **RoniFanGirls2Much:** _i’m going to SurveyCon tomorrow, i can’t wait to meet you!!_

“Aw, RoniFanGirls2Much! I can’t wait to meet you too! Yeah, it’s going to be so fun! I’m going to be stationed closer to the front of the room by the big stage. My booth is right next to Levi’s, uh, HumanitysStrongest for those of you who’ve watched his videos!” Eren soon realized mentioning Levi brought an entirely new spin to the conversation. The similar words and phrases were flying up the chat-box: _Riren, Ereri, IS THIS REAL?_ He and Levi agreed to leave their relationship ambiguous, though Eren knew sidestepping around it all would be near impossible with this bunch.

**RayyRayyG:** _What was it like meeting Levi for the first time?_

That was a perfect question to start out on, Eren decided. And it didn’t take long to come up with an answer. “RayyRayyG is asking what it was like to meet Levi for the first time. Really, it was… surprising and really unexpected! Mikasa never told me she was related to him, so I never knew. And all of a sudden, he was there at the airport. And then I accidentally grabbed Mikasa’s chest and he almost punched me. Awful, right? And _then_ I left my suitcase at the airport. God, talk about a horrible first impression.” Eren laughed fondly at the memory and tapped on his chin. “It’s been great getting to know him in real life, though. I’ve always admired him… obviously… It’s like meeting your favorite celebrity.”

**YamiXenara:** _What's it like living with a legend?_

Another perfect question to continue on. “YamiXenara wants to know what it’s like living with Levi…” Eren laughed, “It’s full of surprises, definitely. I swear all he does is work and make snarky comments. He’s… shorter in person. It’s fun to press his buttons too. He and Mikasa are alike in a lot of ways, so it’s funny to watch them together…” All of a sudden he realized he’d been rambling a little, so he blushed and stammered, “It’s been really fun, that’s for sure. And they’ve both been really nice about letting me stay with them.”

**AkariKamiya:** _when are we gonna get some juicy erenXlevi content in your vlogs? We're all dying to see it!_

“Juicy ErenxLevi content in my vlogs? You mean like…?”

“What the fuck are you talking about, Jaeger?” Levi burst into the room with Mikasa on his tail. “Talking to yourself, creep?”

“I’m not a creep!” Eren defended himself with a laugh. “I’m live-streaming. Say hi.” Eren turned the laptop to give the audience a view of Levi and Mikasa. Mikasa politely waved before heading to the kitchen. Levi raised an eyebrow, smirked, and took a few steps closer to the laptop. “They’re dying to see it, hm?”

Eren just rolled his eyes and Levi and turned the laptop back towards himself. Levi joined him on the couch and rested his head on Eren’s shoulder. “coffeesoul wants us to have a staring contest. Is that juicy enough?” Levi asked.

“Wouldn’t last long. I’d win in no time at all,” Eren challenged.

Levi pulled back just enough to look Eren square in the face. “Three, two, one, go…”

Eren complained, “You didn’t give me any time to prepare!”

“A true winner doesn’t need time to prepare,” Levi retorted.

After a few seconds, Levi let out a breath of laughter, leaned in and kissed Eren on the nose. At that, Eren blinked with bewilderment. Levi grinned. “I win.”

“That’s not…” Eren was about to argue the legality of his sly move.

**The_Raven:** _omg I’m dead._

“Look, we’re _killing_ people! All because of you!” Eren prodded Levi on the arm, watching as the chat scrolled down at an accelerating speed.

Levi stopped him by resting his head on Eren’s shoulder again and scrolling through the chat-box himself.

**Coffee_Is_My_Saviour:** _Eren, what's your relationship with Levi?_

“Coffee is my savior too,” Eren laughed at their username. And then he realized what their question was. “My… relationship… with Levi?” His face flushed bright red and he looked at the box that showed the view from the camera. Levi’s face was expressionless while Eren looked like a tomato.

“Eren sold his soul to me so now he’s my slave,” Levi answered flatly without hesitation.

“Oh come on, we’re not in some silly fan-fiction,” Eren gave Levi a little shove.

“It’s true, he’s obligated to serve me for the next thousand years,” Levi went on casually.

**JessieRaviolli:** _wHO TOPS?!_

“Raviolli, isn’t that your full name or something?” Eren was back to focusing on the usernames and not their comments. “Who tops? Oh my god.” He was back to a full, bright red flush.

“Probably me,” Levi shrugged casually. Again, the question didn’t even faze him.

Eren, on the other hand, was a flustered mess. Still, he was able to continue with the conversation for the sake of entertaining his audience. “You? What do you mean you? I would give you the time of your fucking life.”

“You couldn’t handle it,” Levi flicked him on the nose. “Next question.”

**Moonflowerchan44:** _eren, out of all of your and Levi's ship names, which ones your favorite and why?_

“Oh, the ship names! Moonflowerchan44 wants to know which ones I like!” That one caught Eren’s attention. “Riren or Ereri are good, they sound like types of flowers or something. Or maybe magic spells that would be in Harry Potter. Some people have been calling us a mixture of strength and hope… like Strope, which is sort of funny! But the other two are probably the best of the bunch!”

**sherbeatles:** _If you were asked to do a vlog/walkthrough/etc right now, who would you do it with and why?_

“If you had to do a video right now, who would it be with and why? sherbeatles wants to know,” Levi pointed out.

“Oh, uh…” Eren glanced over at Levi and blushed (yet again). “I thought the badger video we did together was fun. We were going to make another one for Levi’s channel too! So… maybe, Levi?” Eren looked up from the laptop to a smirking Mikasa. “Actually, no. It’d be Mikasa!” he quickly added with a wide smile and a wink. “Because I get to eat in her videos.”

**CrankyHedgehog:** _Would you ever do a video with the three of you together??_

“Hey, look! Cranky hedgehog, like you!” Eren teased, poking Levi on the cheek. “A video with the three of us? That’d be fun!”

“Levi and I don’t make videos together,” Mikasa mentioned from the kitchen.

“Why not?” Eren scrunched up his brow. He did realize they never posted any videos together.

“I’m better at video games than he is. He gets upset when he loses to me,” she bluntly stated.

“What?” Eren yelped. “Seriously?”

“Let’s move on,” Levi glared in Mikasa’s direction.

“Sore loser,” Mikasa chided and rolled her eyes.

“Okay, well, look forward to a video with the three of us soon because it’s happening!” Eren clapped his hands together with determination.

**Just_Another_Internet_Junkie:** _if you and Levi were to set up a channel together, what would it be called, and what would do on it?_

“A channel with Levi?” That one caught Eren’s attention. Starting up a YouTube channel with Levi was some kind of unreachable dream of his past. Now, people were really asking about it. He smiled and laughed, “Well, Just_Another_Internet_Junkie… we would name it… Moves Like Jaeger. It’d be a channel dedicated to me beating Levi at DDR.”

“Is that a challenge?” Levi asked with a quirked eyebrow.

“No dancing for either of you! You’re supposed to be resting for tomorrow!” Mikasa reminded them.

**nightwriter292:** _You said you were making a video for Levi’s channel. What are you guys planning?_

Eren looked to Levi who smiled as if he were holding on to a secret. “I was going to let Eren be the first one to play Attack on Titan the entire way through. Give it a fair review. Record all of his first impressions.”

Eren’s eyes were _glittering_. “Really?”

“Yeah, someone’s got to start off the play-through videos. I figured you’d be up for it.”

“Oh my god…” Eren’s mind was flying with excitement and enthusiasm. “When?”

“Sometime before the last day of the convention when it gets released to the public.”

“Thank you!” Eren lost a bit of control and threw his arms around Levi. He backed up when he realized it was all on camera and laughed nervously, “Okay, uh, next question!”

 **Yamyamski:** _Eren what's your favorite physical feature of Levi? Can you do a my boyfriend does my makeup tutorial?_

 _“_ That one’s interesting…” Levi pointed to the screen.

“Yamyamski… my favorite physical feature?” Eren was blushing yet again. Seriously, his face would be permanently red as a pomegranate if this all kept up. “He’s got… uh…”

“Go ahead, Jaeger, what’s my best feature?” Levi goaded.

“He’s got, um,” Eren tried to think about something appropriate to say. All the thoughts racing through his mind were definitely not safe for a public live-stream. “Cool hair,” he decided on.

“Weak,” Levi teased. “My boyfriend does my make-up videos… Do you watch those?”

“Yeah, you know, when someone who probably has no idea how makeup puts some on you,” Eren cocked his head to the side. “You haven’t seen any?”

“It was a thing during the first few stages of software development for the game. I probably missed it. So you want me to put makeup on you? That would be… interesting…”

“Consider it a possibility, Yamyamski!” Eren decided.

**leafylychee:** _do you think levi is on squad jaeger and are you on squad levi?_

Eren looked down at his shirt. It was an extra from Levi’s boxes of merchandise. A black tight-fitting shirt that read ‘#squadlevi’ across the front. “Uh…” He really couldn’t deny it. “I may look like Squad Levi trash right now, but tomorrow I’ll be one hundred percent on Squad Jaeger! And I hope you guys are too!”

“We’ll see about that…” Levi poked Eren on the chest.

**ima_person:** _EREN HIT US WITH YOUR BEST PICK UP LINE_

“Yeah, Eren, make us swoon,” Levi pointed at the comment. “It’d be a great way to close this out.”

“Okay, ima_person, this one is for you…” Eren threw on a mock seductive face. “I should call you Goggle, because you have everything I’m looking for!” He winked and snapped his fingers.

“That was so dumb,” Levi face-palmed himself.

“You liked it,” Eren nudged him. “Anyway, looks like we have to go! See you guys tomorrow at the convention!”

He and Levi both waved to the camera before the screen turned black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for everyone who commented on the last chapter and contributed questions/comments! I really hope you liked this sort of chapter! Let me know if you would be up for me writing another one like this again sometime! Thank you a million for reading/giving kudos/writing comments/subscribing/ect. <3<3
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	12. Convention 1.0

“It’s too fucking early for this shit,” Levi grumbled, sticking his arms into the soft leather jacket. Really, his heart was pounding with excitement and his nerves were on fire. He didn’t sleep a wink the previous night. Instead, he favored holing up in his office while scanning through what everyone was saying about the convention.

The insecure teenager of his past poked at his brain. The fourteen-year-old Levi who spent too much time playing video games and not enough time with the other kids in his class reemerged from his repressed memories. An ingrained shitty self-esteem drove him to work harder, to drown himself in making everything perfect. Every pixel needed to be just right. Every status update needed to be well thought out and flawless. Even the fucking post-it notes on his desk needed to be at a ninety-degree angle. Anything less than perfect would rattle his composure to the point of breaking.

And then somewhere in the dawn, he snuck back into his bedroom to find Eren sprawled out in a tangle of sheets and blankets. Suddenly, perfection didn’t seem so ambiguous. Perfection was right there, spread eagle in his bed.

“If you actually slept, you wouldn’t feel so cranky,” Mikasa chided, stepping into the knee-high boots.

“Why are you wearing a uniform again?” Levi had to ask.

“Hange said I’d look… cute…”

“Makes sense…” Levi cocked his head to the side. “I mean, you do.”

She raised an eyebrow, “Gee, thanks. You’re getting soft in your old age.”

He rolled his eyes and messed with the pearly white cravat that was packed in with his assigned uniform. Hange went a little crazy and put everyone into different military divisions and came up with different squads and rankings. He was, apparently, a squad leader in the Scout Regiment. Luckily, the Scout Regiment route of the game was the most violent (and therefore his favorite) so he didn’t mind it.

Eren came stumbling out of the bathroom, tangled up in the leather straps that held the whole outfit together. He fell right on his face, kissing the floor with a smack.

“Eren!” Mikasa rushed to his side.

He just burst out laughing, sat up, and rubbed his sore nose. “This thing is impossible to get on.”

“Here…” She fixed the buckles and straps, putting him all back together again. “Ready to go?”

Eren beamed like the fucking sun. “Of course!”

Every voice that rang inside telling Levi that this would all end up as a complete failure silenced with that one look.

* * *

‘Overwhelmed’ didn’t even begin to cover how Eren felt about the convention. Right when they stepped in the back doors, people dressed in black with special badges escorted them to their tables. No one was allowed inside except for the YouTubers at that time, but even so the entire experience was baffling.

Eren was at a fucking gaming convention held at Survey Corps at a table next to HumanitysStrongest. Mikasa was there next to him to help film the entire thing and to keep an eye on him. And a lot of his Internet friends were scattered around the room at their own booths as well. Every late night editing, every re-shoot, and every dime he spent on equipment suddenly became entirely worth it.

Time sped by as it all occurred and Eren felt like he couldn’t even get a word in to his friends.

“Eren, you’re going to be stationed here for four hours. After that, we’ll send someone in to escort you to lunch. We’ve staggered out lunch times for certain people, so you’re apart of Group B. Your ID number is 143. It’s all written on your badge, so don’t lose it,” one of the Survey Corps employees rambled on to him at a rushed pace. “Today, we’re just doing meet and greets. Try to give everyone an equal amount of time. We’ll have someone here to take photos and security detail will be running around in case you have any issues.”

The rest of their words drawled on and Eren’s mind floated up and out of his body. He glanced around the room. Soon enough, there would be mobs of people rushing through the isles waiting to meet their favorite Internet stars. Eren’s heart raced just thinking about it.

A low stream of background music started to play over the speakers, covering up the noises of last minute preparations. Mikasa stood beside Eren, giving him a poke with her finger. “You look nervous,” she noticed.

“A bit,” he admitted. “Is it too obvious?”

“Take a few deep breaths. I’ll be right here the entire time. You’re doing better than Levi did at his first convention.”

“I heard that,” Levi called over from his table.

“It’s true. He didn’t sleep the entire week. I had to force-feed him.” She seemed to enjoy fondly humiliating her brother with a faint smile dancing across her lips.

It did make Eren feel more at ease. If Levi was nervous at his first convention, it was okay for Eren to be too. He took some deep breaths and grinned, “I’m ready.”

 

The day flew by faster than Eren would have liked. He saw face after face, took photo after photo, and his mouth hurt from smiling so much. It didn’t matter though. He felt like he was high off of every drug all at once, happiness bounding inside his heart at a million miles an hour. He wanted to cry, he was so touched and moved.

_Meeting you is my dream come true._

_You always make me smile._

_You give me a reason to wake up in the morning._

_Your videos saved my life… a few times._

It was daunting and perfect, all at the same time. He had no idea how much of an impact he’d made on so many people. There was always a view counter in the corner of his videos, but it never sank in just how many people knew his name and felt a connection to him. When the first four hours were up, it had gone by too quickly. A Survey Corps employee closed his line down after it had thinned out a bit so Eren could eat.

Eren looked over to Levi, who was the busiest guy in the whole room. His line stretched out farther than anyone else’s. Not only was he there as a YouTuber, but he was also there promoting Attack on Titan as the creator. Eren guessed he wouldn’t be seeing a lot of Levi throughout the convention. He tried to wave at him, to let him know he was leaving for a bit, but Levi was beyond swamped with meeting his fans.

Jean and Marco also had the same lunchtime as Eren, so they met him at his table. “Ready to go? I’m starving. Seriously, I could eat a horse,” Jean greeted him.

“I’ve been trying to catch Levi’s attention to let him know I’m going to leave, but…” Eren gestured over to the mob of fans surrounding Levi. Levi was holding on to a polite smile, shaking hands and giving high fives. He looked like an entirely different person.

“What, does your babysitter need to know your every move?” Jean joked.

“I’m sure Eren is just being polite,” Marco gave Jean a nudge. “Here, Eren. I bet this will help…” Marco put two hands around his mouth like a makeshift bullhorn and yelled, “HumanitysHope sucks!”

The second the words left Marco’s mouth, Levi’s attention was completely diverted from the crowd and his eyes were on the small group of friends. His scowl nearly cut the laughing Marco in two.

Eren gave Levi a cheerful wave and Levi waved back, a roar of squeals and ‘aww’s commencing soon after. Eren guessed both of them would have some explaining to do, but in the mean time, Eren needed to eat.

“So really, what is going on with you guys?” Jean asked when they sat down in a private room filled with hordes of snacks, meals, and beverages.

“What do you mean?” Eren asked, oblivious to what Jean was getting at.

“You and Levi. Are you fucking, or what?”

Eren was lucky he didn’t have anything in his mouth; otherwise it would have come spraying out of his mouth onto Jean’s uniform. “I, uh, well.” He nervously glanced between Jean, Marco, and Mikasa.

Mikasa took over, “They both like each other but are too afraid to admit it.”

“Tragic,” Marco sighed romantically, joking.

“Pathetic,” Jean corrected.

Eren was staring with wide eyes at Mikasa. “What.” It wasn’t even a question; it was a demand for a proper explanation.

“Oh, come on. You’ve been sleeping in the same bed ever since I stabbed yours. The two of you are completely head over heels. Everyone knows it,” she bluntly put it.

“Levi said we were just… playing around with the ship thing. You know, it’s funny,” Eren tried to explain.

“Yeah… ‘pretend’,” Mikasa put air-quotes around ‘pretend’.

Jean snorted out a laugh, “Wow, Eren, your skull is as thick as your ego.”

“More like _your_ ego,” Marco poked Jean on the cheek. He turned to Eren and gave him an encouraging smile, “I think it’s cute you’re taking things at your own pace.”

“Taking things? We’re not taking anything anywhere…” Eren chewed on his lip. “Are we?”

“So you haven’t talked about your feelings?” Marco cocked his head to the side. “Maybe that’s a good place to start.”

“I wouldn’t want to ruin… anything. Plus, it’d be… weird.” Eren stammered out, giving Mikasa a nervous glance.

“You have my blessing,” she nudged him. “I’m getting sick of the two of you awkwardly flirting in front of me. Just tell him and get it over with. God knows he won’t do anything about it.”

“He won’t?”

“Levi’s not exactly a prince in shining armor,” she rolled her eyes at the thought. “He’s an abrasive insomniac who stresses out so much he forgets he’s human and sucks at taking care of himself. Having you around has been good for him… it’s been good for us.”

“Mikasa finally opening up and showing her true colors… it’s magical,” Jean commented with a sly grin.

“Sorry, he’s still learning when it’s appropriate to speak,” Marco smiled, giving Jean a punch on the shoulder.

Mikasa continued, disregarding Jean’s comment, “If you let him know how you feel. You won’t be sorry.”

They were rushed back to their tables for the rest of the meet and greet sessions. With so many people needing his attention, asking him to take photos, and signing his name more times than he had ever done in his entire lifespan, Eren didn’t get a lot of time to think about what Mikasa had said.

Levi liked him?

 _Liked_ him, liked him?

He wanted to slap himself for thinking about it that way, as if they were still in middle school or something.

Eren glanced over to Levi a few times, though Levi was even busier as he was. Still, once in a while, it was as if Levi knew Eren was staring. And he’d look over to give him a familiar smirk or a little wave, something to confirm that Eren was okay. Every time their eyes met, Eren’s heart fluttered up his throat and he’d end up blushing like crazy.

One of his fans stood up on their tiptoes to whisper, “So you really like him, huh? It’s not just a joke?”

Eren laughed, “What makes you say that?”

“I can just tell. You look at him like someone completely in love.”

“In love?” Eren thought for a moment and noticed her shirt. It was a Squad Levi shirt. He had to ask, “You’re a fan of Levi’s. Do you think he likes me back?”

“He wouldn’t play that stupid badger game with just anyone,” she winked before giving him one last hug and racing to get to Levi’s line.

The day wore on and the fans started to head back to their hotels for the night. The lines diminished and soon the YouTubers were heading to their hotels too. Jean and Marco stopped by Eren’s table before leaving. “Are you going to the welcome party tonight?”

“Welcome party?” Eren had to ask. No one said anything about a party.

“He’s going,” Mikasa announced.

“Oh, great, we’ll see you two there!”

“What.” Eren demanded answers for the second time that day.

“Survey Corps is throwing a few after-hours events just for us. They’ll be fun. They sent us an email about it.”

Oh, right. Emails. Eren had completely forgotten about checking those with all the distractions happening in his life as of late.

“I’m going to go let Hange know we’re heading out soon. I’ll meet you and Levi back here in a few minutes. It looks like he’s still got a few more people in line.” Mikasa took off after receiving a nod from Eren.

With some time to burn, Eren hopped into Levi’s line. He waited dutifully and listened in at the things people asked him and how he always had something eloquent to reply with.

Finally, everyone was gone and Eren was standing at the front of the line.

“You didn’t have to wait, you know,” Levi smirked, crossing his arms and leaning back against a table.

“I know,” Eren took a few careful steps forward until Levi’s feet rested between his. Apparently, the proximity surprised Levi but he didn’t look uncomfortable or put off. Eren took a deep breath. Good, that was a start. They slept in the same bed, typically waking up tangled around each other in some way, why was this any different?

Probably because this time, he was completely conscious and aware of their bodies so close together.

Eren put two hands on either side of Levi, gripping the edge of the table for support. He leaned down and placed a light, innocent kiss onto Levi’s lips. He meant it as an invitation, an opportunity for Levi to return the kiss and seal their fate or an opening to lean back and begin an awkward talk about boundaries.

Luckily for Eren, Levi leaned forward and into Eren. Their fate was sealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for joining me for the first day of the convention! I hope you enjoyed it and thank you all so much for being so sweet, leaving kudos/comments/bookmarks/subscriptions and such! 
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	13. Convention 1.5

Levi was both taken by surprise but also not in a strange way. He’d anticipated the moment, thought about it for hours, and analyzed how it would go a million times. It turned out to be exactly what he’d always decided: completely indescribable. Eren’s strong arms locked him in between Eren’s chest and the table behind them. Levi naturally held onto those biceps, needing the support because his knees felt a little weak. A tiny voice in the back of his mind was mocking him for acting like a junior high school girl, but Eren’s lips had that effect on him whether he liked it or not.

They pulled apart due to lack of oxygen, though Levi would have happily let Eren suck all the air out of him until he was dead and gone. A warm puff of Eren’s breath hit Levi’s cheeks as their faces were still so close together. Neither one of them made a move to tear apart, a single move felt like it’d shatter their entire world.

So instead of moving, Eren decided to speak, “Levi, I…”

But Levi needed to say it first. He wasn’t going to let Eren make all the first moves. “I like you, Eren.” It was simple and still felt so amateur, but there wasn’t a better way of saying it.

Scratch that. There were a million better ways to say it. But Levi’s entire vocabulary melted down to those four words. _I like you, Eren._

Eren swallowed hard and his mouth curved into a smile so huge it looked painful. “I like you, Levi.”

There was still a lot to say, a lot to decide, and a lot to do. The two of them just stood there like dopes, staring at each other with stupid smiles.

“Thank god you’ve finally done it,” Mikasa broke through, ripping Eren a few steps back. “Now, let’s go.”

“Mikasa,” Eren whined, still grinning like a fool. “You need to respect the moment.”

“I would have if you two hadn’t been standing there staring at each other for five minutes straight.”

Had it really been that long? Levi pulled his phone out from his pocket and his eyebrows rose up on their own. Oh shit, they really were two dopes in a stupidly blinding bliss. Five minutes never felt so quick.

“So how’d it go for you?” Mikasa asked Levi as they made their way to the car.

“Not bad. People seem excited about the game,” he answered shortly. Not bad was probably an understatement. There were tons of people squealing about the game, about his YouTube channel, and… about Eren, too. He’d answered a million questions, taken thousands of photos, signed his name more times than he could count, and his throat hurt from talking so much. Still, a little ball of pride spun around in his chest as he thought about the first day of the convention.

He’d finally done something worthwhile.

As he pulled onto the highway, his phone started ringing. He went to pick it up when Mikasa intercepted, “No talking on the phone while driving.” She answered the call in his stead, “Hello?”

It was impossible not to hear Farlan’s voice, he basically yelled through the phone. Mikasa put him on speaker anyway, amplifying him from annoyingly loud to extra annoyingly loud. “Mikasa! Aw, that’s cute, answering the phone for your brother! What are you guys up to?”

“He’s driving, we’re heading home to change before the welcoming party tonight.”

“So all three of you are going? Even Levi?”

“Even Levi,” Mikasa confirmed.

Farlan laughed, “I bet he just wants to make sure his HumanitysHope doesn’t get hit on by the tall, dark, famous strangers.”

“You’re on speaker, Farlan,” Levi kept his voice clipped and threatening.

There was a slight pause before Farlan was laughing again, “My bad, Lee. Hey, we’ll see you three at the shindig, then!”

He hung up quickly after that and they pulled into the driveway.

The three of them made a quick trip of changing into something decent for the party. Levi went with dark skinny jeans that were actually comfortable. He realized the only clean long-sleeve shirt he had was a Squad Jaeger one he ‘borrowed’ from Eren’s table when he was at lunch. He threw it on for the sake of a clean shirt and zipped up a leather jacket over top. It was his please-don’t-notice-me outfit. Parties weren’t exactly his forte, but he figured he needed to make some kind of appearance. So many people gathered together for this Attack on Titan launch convention, he couldn’t just skip it.

Plus, Eren was going. And that was enough to force him out of his introverted shell. If anything, he’d get to watch Eren having fun.

He slicked his hair to the side, exchanged his contacts for his glasses, and was ready to go. While waiting for Mikasa and Eren, he checked his phone to catch up on what he’d missed all day. A lot of his fans were posting photos of the convention on Twitter; a lot of them were the photos they took with Levi. It made him smile seeing all their happy faces and he only had to cringe once or twice when he looked a little too awkward.

Someone posted a photo of his and Eren’s tables next to each other with mobs of people around them. The comments on that one ranged from ‘did they plan it that way?’ to ‘asdfkajsd’.

It was funny, because in that photo he and Eren were looking at each other with the silliest smiles. Levi saved the photo and wondered if he should repost it with a teasing comment.

But could he do that anymore now that they weren’t just ‘playing along’? What were they supposed to do about their budding… relationship? Was it a relationship?

God, Levi hated this part of taking an interest in someone. He hated not knowing and figured he could just play it off like he didn’t care. But he did care, at least a little.

There wasn’t much time to think about it. Mikasa came out of her room in dark tights and a navy dress. Eren came out of the bathroom right after her with a Squad Levi shirt on and some dark jeans.

“Did you steal that?” Levi had to ask. He didn’t remember giving Eren one, nor were they up for sale before the convention.

“I might have,” he blushed and smiled wide.

Okay, who could be mad at that face?

“What’s this?” Mikasa unzipped Levi’s jacket, revealing his own stolen goods.

Both of them looked at Levi with blank faces before Eren broke out into a fit of giggles while Mikasa rolled her eyes. She had to have been sick of dealing with the two of them, but she brought it onto herself by inviting Eren to stay with them in the first place.

They managed to get to the party in a quiet, comfortable silence. Levi led them to the roof, noticing that a ton of people were already there.

Music blasted from huge speakers on one side of the roof and there was plenty of space for dancing. The open bar was set up near a collection of sofas and chairs. There were tons of different tables with complimentary gifts and food. A stage was set up on the other end where they were bound to have something going on.

Hange reared up behind them all, throwing their arms around Eren and Mikasa. “You guys _made it_!” they squealed. “This party is themed, dance until you drop! I better see you two out there. I want to see what moves you’ve got up your sleeves!”

Eren quirked an eyebrow at Levi and joked, “If I beat you at a dance off, will you be my ice skating coach?”

“Only if you refrain from the pole dancing,” Levi managed to quip back wittily. Eren was making him lose his ability to stay calm and steady. Levi kept glancing down at Eren’s shirt, wondering if it was some kind of proclamation of their growing feelings towards one another. As much as he didn’t want to think into it too much, he did anyway.

An arm caught around Levi’s and he was suddenly being dragged away. “Hey, bro, you look stiff as hell,” Isabel was yelling in his ear, probably a few drinks in already. “Let’s get you something fruity and sweet. Sugar high plus alcohol buzz equals a fucking great time!”

“How about something that won’t make me gag?” he countered.

“Not a chance.” She left him at a table, grabbed three margaritas, and rejoined him without spilling at all.

“Whose the third one for?” he had to ask. Farlan wasn’t anywhere around. Hange was still chatting with Eren and Mikasa.

“Me?” she snorted and laughed. “Seriously, you look like you’re constipated or something. What’s up?”

He really didn’t want to talk about it with drunk-Isabel but he knew for a fact that she wouldn’t let up until he gave her something of an answer.

She beat him to the punch, “It’s Eren, right? You like him, he likes you?”

“Why does it seem like everyone knows?”

“You made it pretty fucking obvious, bro. You’re not as sneaky as you think.”

“I wasn’t really trying to be discrete…” he mumbled.

She ignored him, “So what? Did you talk about it? Kiss? Consummate the beginning of a glorious thing?”

He flicked her on the forehead, “You’re yelling.” At that rate, everyone at the whole damned party would think Levi and Eren were fucking.

Not like that wasn’t something Levi didn’t want. It was something he fucking _dreamed_ about ever since Eren occupied the left side of his bed and wrapped himself around Levi like a fucking koala every night.

“We’re all thinking it!” she flicked him back. “So a kiss, then?”

“Since when did you become a detective?”

“Mikasa texted me about it.”

Levi’s glare went from Isabel to Mikasa. Mikasa wasn’t even paying attention and Isabel just laughed.

“He’s good for you,” Isabel grinned, downing her first margarita at an impressively quick pace. “We don’t have to worry about you as much anymore. He seems to take good care of you without even realizing it.”

“Thanks, Mom,” he rolled his eyes at her but couldn’t stop smiling. At this rate, his mouth would fall off from smiling so damn much.

“No, you’re the mom,” she sassed back, picking up her drink and heading off into the crowd without another word.

Levi meant to head back to Eren, to cling to his side and possibly enjoy himself at the event. Eren looked beautiful under the vibrant lights and they made his eyes glow just right. The music was something happy, bright, and catchy. Eren bounced his knee to the rhythm while chatting with some new people Levi didn’t recognize. He was so transfixed by Eren’s form; he didn’t notice some strangers had approached him.

“Levi, I’ve always wanted to meet you!”

“Yeah, me too, it’s seriously like a dream come true!”

And suddenly Eren felt a little farther away.

* * *

Eren’s mind couldn’t move fast enough to comprehend the night. His heart couldn’t keep up either as it beat uncontrollably in his chest. The night was beyond his wildest dreams and he found himself with another drink in hand, courtesy of Hange. At least the alcohol helped numb his ecstatic nerves.

“I’m going to go get my date, behave yourself!” Mikasa warned him, rushing off back to the bottom floor of the building.

Jean and Marco were quick to replace her, dragging Eren out onto the dance floor. His little band of Internet friends were all there. Sasha, Krista, Ymir, and Connie all welcomed him into their little circle. None of them could really dance, but none of them cared either. It was all the more fun to look silly with his friends, imitating dance moves he’d seen from anime and laughing all the way through.

“Hey, where’s your boyfriend?” Jean asked, yelling over the music and the noise of the crowd.

Eren craned his neck to get a better view and suddenly wished Levi wasn’t so short. And then Jean’s comment hit him. “He’s not…” Eren started to shout back, but stopped himself. Was Levi his boyfriend?

They didn’t exactly get that far or have the time to talk about it. Did they need a label? Were they even allowed to date? There were so many implications, Eren bit his lip just thinking about it. What if Levi wasn’t on the same track as Eren? As much as Eren wanted to be cool about it, he hated not knowing what they were.

He took a fistful of his shirt, remembering their coincidental matching outfits. It was hard to not assume they were in a relationship when they were wearing each other’s merchandise like that.

The night wore on and the thoughts only spun around Eren’s mind more. Drinking definitely helped and his friends were more than happy to accompany him on a trip down let’s-get-wasted road. Okay, maybe it didn’t help, but it was a temporary relief from the constant cycle of questions running through his mind.

“Your Highness, I do think it’s time to go,” Ymir slung Krista over her shoulder.

“I wasn’t done doing Eren’s makeup,” Krista rubbed a Cheeto across Eren’s lips. “The orange brings out… your… nose…”

“Yeah, you’re a lot prettier now, Jaeger,” Jean agreed. “I like the Dorito dust blush.”

Ymir hauled Krista away as she sang out her goodbyes. Mikasa came out of nowhere and poked Eren on the shoulder. When he turned to look at her, she snorted, “Are you wearing crumbs and cheese dust as makeup?”

“It brings out my nose,” Eren replied happily. “Hey, I’m… sort of… sleepy.”

“Yeah, we’re going home now. Have you seen Levi?”

“Lee-Lee?” Eren called out, glancing around for a few seconds. He looked back at Mikasa and shrugged, “No.”

“He’s going to regret not hearing you call him Lee-Lee…” she mumbled before turning her back towards Eren. “Come on.”

He climbed on her back so she could piggyback him towards the exit. On their way, they found Levi inside of a mob of people. Mikasa grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away with no explanation.

“Hey, it’s Lee-Lee!” Eren exclaimed happily.

“What time is it?” Levi scrunched his face up and looked at his phone. “Shit.”

“Yeah, it’s time to go,” Mikasa agreed with his tone.

 

Getting back was a blur and luckily Mikasa and Levi were completely sober. Eren, on the other hand, felt like he was spinning. Levi picked him up out of the car and Eren clung onto his front like a koala. And the next moment, they were falling into bed.

Eren couldn’t help himself any longer. He pulled Levi over him and kissed him again. He’d been waiting for another one for so long, there was no way he could wait until morning.

“You’re going to be so hung over tomorrow morning…” Levi pulled apart from Eren and ran his fingers through his hair. “So I’ll make you a deal. Drink a glass of water and I’ll kiss you again.”

Eren fell off the bed in his excitement to go get some water. Levi tucked him under the blankets and went to get it himself. When he returned, Eren gulped the entire thing down like he’d been wandering in the desert for years on end.

“Boyfriend,” Eren hiccupped as he set the glass down. “Kiss me.”

“You’re demanding,” Levi joked, falling back into the pillows.

Eren rolled over him and captured Levi’s lips in his own.

“Any chance I can bargain for you to brush your teeth?” Levi tried. What was he, a dentist?

Eren nipped at Levi’s nose and simply stated, “Nope. I’d rather kiss you. I drank the water. You promised.”

“Fairs fair,” Levi sighed. “Okay, boyfriend, kiss me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I do hope you enjoyed it! 
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	14. Convention 2.0

Eren, Armin and Mikasa sat in the roped-off front row in one of the auditoriums, looking up at the stage where an all out battle was taking place. The delightful, cheery sounds of Mario Kart: Double Dash!! were masked by the fury of the two teams. Farlan and Isabel sat next to one another looking at their screen, Farlan a focused statue and Isabel screaming some kind of war cry. Levi and a man named Erwin sat across from them, both of them playing with ease and making smart comments to one another while gliding along each map.

“Who’s that?” Eren leaned over to ask Mikasa. He’d heard Levi mention Erwin a few times, but the guy didn’t have any sort of Internet presence.

“Levi’s boss. He’s the first one who took an interest in Levi’s game and made it all happen. Apparently, he was a big fan of Levi’s when he was first starting out.”

“Huh…” Eren watched the two of them playing together. They didn’t seem to have a boss-employee relationship at all. Really, they just looked like a couple of friends having fun together.

The morning started off with Armin bursting into the apartment with a to-go crate of coffee for the three all-too-tired housemates. Apparently, he’d been swamped the previous day with his own fans and ended up spending the day at his own impromptu meet and greet.

The short morning left no time for Eren and Levi to talk, even though that was all Eren wanted to do. He remembered everything from the previous night and wanted to die a little from the embarrassment of it all. Yet, the memories weren’t completely shameful. At least he knew where Levi stood and how he felt (well, sort of).

With the theme of the second day of the convention as ‘Collaboration Gaming Competition’, Eren was left to his own free will for the day.

“I swear to Lord Mario if you punch on this bridge and make us fall off again,” Farlan threatened Isabel in a teasing tone.

“That was _one time_! Dino Dino Jungle _hates_ me.”

“The last time you did it, Eyebrows got ahead.”

“What did you call me?” Erwin called over to their side of the stage in a mocking tone.

“That’s _Commander_ Eyebrows to you two,” Levi corrected them. “Unless you want to call him Commander Bushy Brows, that works too.”

Levi seemed so relaxed around Erwin, it made Eren wonder how long they’d known each other. They looked to be around the same age and sort of had similar mannerisms.

Eren bit his lip. He and Levi weren’t much alike at all. In an attempt to take his mind off of that track, he pulled out his phone and flicked through his social media.

Jean posted a video of Marco taking photos with fans with the caption: _What a babe._

Bertolt and Reiner were live streaming their competition against two other YouTubers. They were playing a violent looking version of Wii Tennis. It was almost hilarious watching the two bulky guys running around the stage swinging invisible tennis rackets like a couple of dorks.

Krista posted at least twenty photos of Ymir arm wrestling with her fans. Eren wasn’t so sure how the arm wrestling began, but it looked like people were placing bets on if she’d win or not. And no matter who challenged her, she’d always win.

And then he got a text.

 **Mom [12:56pm]:** Sending your things today. What’s the address I need to send it to?

Oh, right. Eren had pushed that situation to the very back of his mind, hoping it would just disappear. While the idea of living with Mikasa and Levi indefinitely seemed like a dream come true, it was complicated.

What if he took up too much space? What if he couldn’t afford to help pay for things? What if Mikasa got sick of him? What if it didn’t work out with Levi?

That last thought had him biting his lip so hard it could have drawn blood.

Mikasa looked over to his phone and nudged him on the shoulder. She held out her hand, a silent gesture to hand over the phone. Eren let her have it, knowing resistance would be pointless. She typed in the address, but didn’t hit send. She handed the phone back and smiled, giving him the option to choose his fate.

He looked between Mikasa, Armin, and Levi up on stage. They treated him more like family than his parents ever did. He pressed send and shoved his phone back in his pocket, not wanting to look at it anymore. The decision was done and made. He wouldn’t let himself mull over it any longer. If they didn’t want him around anymore, that was fine. Maybe they’d be better off separated than together.

Mikasa took Eren’s hand and held it in her lap, a little gesture to send him her quiet support. Armin looked over to her, wondering what sort of silent conversation they were having with only a silent promise for an explanation later.

With her free hand, Mikasa started texting. She tilted the screen towards her, making it difficult to see what she was doing so Eren let it go.

“You can’t check your phone while we’re in the middle of a race!” Farlan shouted out at Levi.

Sure enough, Levi was managing the controller with one hand and using his other to scroll through the screen.

“That’s against the rules!” Isabel joined in.

“Is it, though? I think Levi’s giving you an advantage, which you desperately need,” Erwin heartily laughed.

It was true. Isabel and Farlan were a lap behind.

Levi’s face broke out into a wide grin, his face flushed, and he ended up dropping the controller in efforts to text back quickly.

“Foul!” Isabel shouted, standing up abruptly. “Levi’s not even trying!”

“Was he even trying in the first place?” Erwin defended in good humor.

“Pay attention and maybe we can still win,” Farlan pulled Isabel back down by the hem of her shirt. “You’re supposed to take advantage of your opponent’s weaknesses!”

“Levi has no weaknesses,” Erwin shot back.

“Yeah he does,” Isabel laughed. “It’s probably a text about Eren.”

The room went silent and Isabel slapped a hand over her mouth. Suddenly, it felt like the entire room was staring (and they probably were). Eren’s eyes were pinned up at Levi, searching for some kind of answer to the question rolling through his brain. What do I do? What do we do now?

Erwin looked over at Levi’s phone and laughed, “It was Mikasa.”

Eren visibly relaxed but realized only about half the room knew about Levi and Mikasa’s family relation. He glanced around the room and heard the whispers.

“Levi and Mikasa? Who saw that coming?”

“I thought he was interested in Eren? Haven’t you been following his Twitter?”

“Isn’t she a health guru?”

“They do hang around each other a lot…”

It went from one issue to the next. A big reveal to their true relationship to a giant misunderstanding of Levi and Mikasa’s. Eren glanced over to Mikasa who was silently staring up at her brother, wondering who would make the first move.

Neither of them had to say anything. Farlan just snorted, not paying any attention to the crowd because he was so focused on getting Yoshi through the finish line, “Pssh, he doesn’t get _that_ excited when Mikasa texts him. I mean, I wouldn’t get that excited if my sister texted me. It was probably something about Eren.”

Isabel slapped her hand over Farlan’s mouth, the two of them doing a fantastic job at digging them all into a deep, deep hole. Now the spotlight was back on Eren. He was back to staring up at Levi, pleading for something to go on. Should they tell the world about their relationship? Or was it too soon?

Levi walked to the edge of the stage and jumped off with his eyes pinned on Eren’s. At that moment, it was like they were alone in the big room. Eren forgot about the hundreds of eyes on them and even about his two close friends who sat beside him. Levi leaned down and kissed Eren square on the lips with no hesitation, staying there for a good few moments before pulling away and whispering, “I’m glad.”

Eren didn’t need to ask what Levi was glad about, he already knew. Eren returning home wouldn’t sever their time together or tear them apart. They’d remain in the same bed together at night and wake up to each other’s faces. The split second decision he made to stay was the right one and Levi’s soft, gorgeous expression assured Eren of that a million times over.

And then his mind snapped back to the crowd as a unanimous sound flickered through the room.

_Click, click, click._

Snapshots of the moment were captured left and right. Isabel, Farlan, and Erwin were all standing on the stage with the Mario Kart music still playing in the background. Levi and Erwin’s team of Koopa Troopa and Koopa Paratroopa were cheering as the victors. Farlan and Isabel’s team of Princess Peach and Princess Daisy sulked.

“Well,” Erwin coughed, catching everyone’s attention again. “After that dramatic end, it looks like Levi and I will excel through the ranks onto the next challenge. Isabel and Farlan will compete for third place.”

 

Eren and Mikasa got home first that evening, both of them glued to their laptops and watching the updates flow. Eren was staring at a particularly nice photo of the kiss in good lighting with Armin and Mikasa gaping in the background. It was captioned: _#thekiss_ with a plethora of positive emojis. He realized the hashtag was trending on Twitter with an abundance of photos, edits, and fan art of the scene.

So much for easing their fans into the relationship. Still, he couldn’t stop smiling.

And then the other issue came back through his mind. “You’re really okay with me… staying here?”

“I’ve told you. We want you here.” Mikasa’s answer was firm and unwavering, exactly what Eren needed to help assure his presence wouldn’t be a bother.

But another nagging question came up. He pulled his knees up to his chest and mumbled, “But what if it doesn’t… work out. You know. With Levi and… me…”

Mikasa gave him a gentle shove on the shoulder. “We don’t have to worry about that right now. If it happens, we’ll figure it out. It’s not like we’d ever kick you out.” She threw a blanket over the two of them and turned the TV on. “Want to watch a movie?”

“Always. Anyway, who are _you_ dating?” Eren finally asked while she flipped through their options. He glanced over and noticed she was blushing. “Hm?” he drew out the ‘m’ in a teasing manner, hoping to get some sort of rise out of her.

“You… don’t know them.”

“That’s a lie. I bet I’ve heard of them,” Eren called her out on it right away. Okay, he didn’t know if she was lying or not but he figured he’d attempt it. He pulled out his vlogging camera and pointed it at the two of them, hitting record as naturally as he breathed.

“You have that on you _now_?” Mikasa rolled her eyes. “Of course you do.”

“Of course I do,” Eren agreed with a cheeky smile. “Guys, this convention stuff has me beat. Mikasa and I are watching a movie soon and we were just talking about her secret crush.”

Mikasa hit his arm and he laughed, shutting up about it.

“I bet most of you have seen… the news… with Levi and I. He’s Mikasa’s brother, for those of you who didn’t realize, and we’ve been getting really close since I got here. It’s…” Eren tried to think of how to put it, but was struggling to find the right way. He wondered if he’d have to re-film the explanation a few times, but eventually came up with the right words. “It’s a dream come true and I’m really excited about it. Best day of my life.”

The simple phrasing was enough to explain himself.

He continued with a more peppy tone, “Maybe we can do some of those boyfriend tags now! Anyway, we better get to watching before it gets too late. I’ll see you guys later!”

He turned his camera off and snuggled back under the blanket. “I _was_ going to start an entire conspiracy theory about how you’re dating… I don’t know…” Eren wracked his brain for the most outlandish person he could think of. “Sasha or something!”

“Yeah… that’d be crazy,” Mikasa agreed with a chuckle. “You’ll never find out. Unlike you, I do a pretty good job keeping my relationship under wraps.”

“So we’ll never be able to double date?” Eren gave her his best puppy eyes.

“A double date with my half-brother and you? I can see it now. Levi would be glaring across the table the whole time. You’d be oblivious. It’d be… uncomfortable at best.”

Eren made his best ‘pssh’ noise and rested his head on her shoulder. “Whatever. It’d be fun. We could bring Armin too.”

“Whatever you say,” Mikasa flicked on the movie but neither of them could stay awake long enough to get through the beginning credits.

* * *

Levi sighed as he walked into the apartment, relishing the fact that he had a day off from convention obligations the next day. As much as he loved meeting with fans and interacting with them, it was draining.

Still, he replayed one part of his day that jolted him back into a blissful, stress-free state of mind. He figured it’d be best to put their relationship out there instead of hiding it. He didn’t want to hide it. He wanted to hold Eren’s hand in public and not care what other people thought. He wanted to hug him and follow him around to make sure he didn’t get into too much trouble. An old version of himself would have found these feelings pathetic and alarming, but the new version didn’t give a fuck.

He noticed two lumps on the couch and found his boyfriend and his sister sprawled out in a deep sleep. “Okay… one thing at a time…” he whispered to himself. He changed into some decent sleeping clothes and started by hauling Mikasa to her bedroom. He tucked her in like he did when they were little and she didn’t wake up at all. He even was thoughtful enough to plug her phone into its charger for her. If he didn’t win the ‘best fucking half-brother’ award that year, he promised himself he’d steal the damned thing.

Next came Eren, who was heavier but Levi managed. He hauled Eren back to his bed… their bed… Levi dropped the pronouns entirely and hauled him into bed. Eren cuddled into the blankets in his sleep, rearranging himself until he was sprawled out and taking up the whole damned thing.

Levi just shook his head and smiled. Now that it was official, they were in for a crazy ride. That was for certain.

“Mmm, Levi…” Eren murmured erotically into the pillow.

Oh fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a rough chapter, but it's all in efforts to get somewhere (I promise!) As always thank you for taking time out of your day and reading, I do hope you enjoyed it! 
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	15. Convention 2.5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Things get pretty heated in this chapter, so I figured I'd give you a heads up. I don't think this chapter sways top/bottom anyone- it's pretty even. Still, if you start it and you're not into it, you can start reading at “Okay, cheeky bastard, get your ass to the bathroom and brush your damned teeth" and you won't miss any of the plot! Sorry if this is confusing, I'll try to keep these smuttier chapters separate from the main plot as much as I can. In this case, it just didn't work out so I hope it's not too distracting/uncomfortable!

It was like a bottle of champagne that had been shaken at the time of a celebration. The bubbles piled up, all racing towards the cork until the entire thing exploded in a rush of foam and chattering fizz. The sexual tension between them had gotten to the point of no return and now exploded around them, fueling their desires for _more_.

Their shirts had been tossed off and their hands searched each other’s bodies. Levi grinned with pride when Eren’s fingertips slowly drew across his defined muscles and clung onto his budging biceps. Apparently, his weeks of burning off the stress with mindless exercise paid off.

Levi found himself doing the same thing however, feeling every dip and crease of Eren’s bare chest and stomach. Every time he watched that fucking ridiculous video where Eren was playing Pokémon shirtless, he imagined what it would be like to reach through the screen and explore every nook and cranny of Eren’s body. And now Eren was there, right in front of him, wanting to be touched.

Levi’s cock pulsed and it only took a few seconds for his entire lower half to feel the hot, tingly waves of need. By the looks of it, Eren felt the same.

Here’s where they had to make the big decisions. Should the more rational part of his mind take over and force them to wait? Or could they melt away in the reckless abandon that seemed oh-so tempting.

Levi didn’t want to push Eren. He’d let him take the reigns of the situation and decide for the two of them. Besides, he could get a little lost in learning every speckle on Eren’s skin and every little mole. He wanted to count the scattered spots and memorize them. He wanted to trace the constellations the little blemishes created and fall into the galaxy that was Eren’s skin.

He hadn’t felt so lost in the throws of devotion in so long, it was hard to remember how completely enamored he could be. The anxieties that usually wore him down had disappeared. The cloud of doubt was blown away from his heart. There was nothing between him and the feeling of true _happiness_ and it was beautiful.

Their lips collided again and again in new formations, every one of them even more perfect than the last. Eren’s lips were softer than Levi had expected, a happy surprise. He licked and sucked at Eren’s bottom lip, teasing him and spurring him on to do the same. It would never be enough, even if they continued kissing for the rest of time.

Levi let his tongue slip into Eren’s mouth, poking at Eren’s canine teeth and brushing up against the roof of Eren’s mouth. Eren broke away just to giggle at the foreign feeling, but quickly resumed devouring Levi’s mouth with his own. Eren’s tongue broke through Levi’s lips and he replicated Levi’s motions. Levi gave his tongue a little nip before worshiping those soft lips once more.

Eren’s fingers bravely trailed down the line of dark hair starting at Levi’s naval and sweeping down past the hem of his sweatpants. His fingers grazed the tip of Levi’s cock that had been poking up in attempts to escape the clothed prison.

And then Eren hesitated, pausing all movement. Levi had one arm clinging to Eren’s bicep and the other secured around the back of his neck. Eren was on top of him, supporting himself with one arm and the other still frozen near Levi’s core.

It was a silent question of approval and Levi was more than ready to answer. He tilted his hips, just barely, until Eren’s fingertips made contact.

The floodgates had opened and Levi was more than willing to drown in the rush. His pants came off and so did Eren’s in a hasty, frazzled mess. The desperation between the two of them had grown to an all-time high. Eren’s hands ran up Levi’s thighs, lighting a fire of warmth and tingles behind them. He licked a fat stripe up the underside of Levi’s cock and let out the most lewd hum.

Levi clutched at Eren’s hair and squeezed his eyes shut, knowing full well what Eren had planned. How long had it been since he had someone suck his cock? Too damned long.

But Eren wasn’t just someone. When his lips finally wrapped around Levi’s aching member, it was almost sensory overload. Wet warmth encased him and his entire lower half was gravitating towards Eren. Eren set the pace, slow at first until Levi’s cock was a slobbery mess and then he quickened. Levi helped find a comfortable rhythm using Eren’s hair to gently push and pull him.

“Oh, fuck, Eren,” Levi breathed out. “So fucking good. You’re so… ahhh.” He couldn’t even finish the word ‘amazing’.

He could feel Eren’s lips curl into a smile. His tongue swirled around and rubbed up against all the right places. He pushed further and further until he had Levi swallowed up whole and seeing stars.

It always seemed like the person you were currently with was your best. That they gave the best blowjobs and hand jobs and that they took you places no one else had. But Levi could say for certain that Eren was his best and that no one could ever hold a candle to this bright, burning sun.

“Eren, I…” Levi tried to warn him, but it was a little too late. Levi came quickly and he hadn’t expected it so soon himself. He’d gotten so caught up in Eren that he lost any sort of self-control. The pulses were quick as the spurts of come shot into Eren’s still mouth.

After a few seconds, Eren pulled away, swallowed, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. The sight of him doing so could have revved up Levi for another round if he weren’t so damned worn out.

Still, he had enough energy to smirk and tackle Eren down to the bed. “Your turn,” he purred, eyeing the very obvious swell thumping against Eren’s stomach.

“You don’t have to…” Eren began to protest, but stopped abruptly when Levi caught his cock in his hand. An immediate moan left Eren’s lips and ceased any further objections.

Levi let the tip of his nose glide down Eren’s torso. His hair fell against Eren’s body and followed the same path, making Eren laugh just a little with ticklish delight. His nose reached the patch of dark hair just above the base of Eren’s cock and Levi took a deep breath in. The musky, clean scent was all Eren and Levi wanted to die right there because it was so perfect.

And then he got to marvel at Eren’s cock, thick and tall. He’d often spent nights wondering what it’d be like to ride him or how it would look bouncing against Eren’s stomach as Levi pounded into him. Luckily for Levi, it was better than he could have ever imagined.

Tasting it was even more thrilling, wrapping his lips around the soft head and dragging downwards along the shaft. He thought about how he could spend hours worshipping Eren with his lips and tongues, days experimenting with every technique that could make Eren cry with pleasure.

But then Eren cried out and with no warning at all, he was coming into Levi’s mouth. After a few moments, Levi pulled away and swallowed the salty, sticky mouthful. Eren was covering his face with his hands. “So embarrassing,” he mumbled into his palms.

Levi took his wrists and pulled his hands away, revealing Eren’s blushing cheeks and watery eyes. “Not embarrassing,” Levi corrected.

“It was… early…” Eren struggled to say.

“It was sexy,” Levi corrected again, letting Eren’s arms fall around him until they settled into a comfortable cuddle.

“It’s just… you’re _you_ and I’m… me…”

Levi amended his statement yet again, “I’m _yours_ and you’re _mine_. That’s it.”

Eren was quiet for a moment and finally his entire body relaxed. “It’s not fair,” he finally stated with a chuckle.

“What’s not fair?”

“You’re too sexy for your own good.”

“I think you’re mistaken.”

“Am I?”

“You’re the one who’s too sexy. And don’t start the chain of ‘no you, no you’ because I’m too damned tired for that shit.”

Eren laughed, “Me too.”

Levi started to get up but Eren trapped him in his arms. “Where do you think you’re going?” Eren asked.

“To brush my teeth,” Levi yawned, trying to get up a second time.

“Too tired to argue about who’s sexier but not too tired to get up and brush your teeth?”

“Yep,” Levi answered simply and was finally able to get up when Eren let him go. “Are you coming?”

“Already did,” Eren joked with a smirk.

“Okay, cheeky bastard, get your ass to the bathroom and brush your damned teeth,” Levi sarcastically teased back.

The two of them threw on their pants and headed out to the main room. Both of them stopped in their tracks when they heard a hushed voice from Mikasa’s room. It sounded like she was on the phone.

Levi and Eren glanced at each other, a silent wondering if they should listen in or not. Neither of them knew what to do and before they knew it, they were eavesdropping.

“Probably not tonight, if you keep sneaking over here we’ll get caught,” Mikasa spoke sadly. After a silence, she answered, “I don’t know, it’s none of their business. If we were… _official_ it might change things between all of us.”

After more mumbling on the other line, Mikasa sighed, “Maybe after the convention, when things have calmed down?”

Levi took the lead to head to the bathroom as quietly as possible and Eren followed suit. Once they shut the door silently, Eren bit his lip with worry. “Does she think she can’t tell us about her relationship?”

“Not sure. She’s always kept that sort of stuff to herself.”

Eren hummed in thought and started brushing his teeth slowly. He spoke with a gob of toothpaste in his mouth, spraying the mirror with a few specks of white. Levi grabbed a tissue to wipe them out of existence. “Tomorrow is our free day, right? When we don’t have to do anything specific for the convention?”

“For some people, yeah. I’ll be busy, but I don’t think your friends will be doing much. Are you scheming something?”

“Maybe,” Eren smirked into the mirror.

Levi took a moment to look at them through the mirror. Without his glasses, they were a bit blurry but still visible. They were both disheveled in their own ways. Eren’s fluffy hair stuck up in all sorts of directions and Levi’s was pushed all to one side. They both looked exhausted but in a happy-go-lucky sort of way.

Nothing about them was conventional in any sort of way and Levi liked that. In some ways, it made him feel more comfortable around Eren. Whatever they had was the realest, truest thing he’d ever come close to and he would do anything to make sure he didn’t lose it. He’d do anything to make sure he didn’t lose Eren.

* * *

Waking up next to Levi was wasn’t anything short of magical bliss. Eren watched Levi’s sleeping face and took a silent count of his inhales and exhales. All of a sudden, the invisible walls and barriers between them were crumbling down and he was ecstatic to see what awaited the two of them.

He let his fingers sweep over Levi’s forehead, brushing the stray, dark hairs away from his face. While Levi typically kept a monotone expression, he looked entirely different as he slept. Eren couldn’t decide on whether tranquil or whimsical described the expression better and ultimately gave up in favor of pulling Levi back into his arms.

Eren was becoming more comfortable and with that, more daring. His need to cherish and shower Levi with affection came before his inner awkward anxieties. The desire to touch him and care for him blew past any insecurity he still held on to. Their relationship was barreling forward at top speeds and there wasn’t any way of stopping it and Eren didn’t even mind. He was excited to finally allow himself to come clean with his feelings: he was falling for Levi hard and fast.

“I can feel you staring at me,” Levi mumbled, keeping his eyes shut and not stirring from Eren’s grasp.

“I can’t help it,” Eren replied confidently and honestly. “You’re cute when you sleep.”

“I won’t be cute in a moment when I have to get up.”

“You’re right, you’ll be grumpy and cranky.”

Levi gave him a feeble little push on the chest, enough to scold him for teasing but not enough to push them apart. “What are you doing today?”

“You’ll see,” Eren smiled into Levi’s hair.

“So it’s a secret?”

“Yeah.”

“And you won’t tell me? No matter what?”

“Nope.”

“Sneaky bastard.”

“Not sneaky. It’s a surprise,” Eren corrected him with a matter-of-fact tone of voice.

“Seems like you’ve got lots of those up your sleeves, like you’re some kind of wizard.”

“If I’m a wizard, you’re a grumpy old wolf.”

“Who are you calling old?”

Eren laughed and nuzzled his nose into Levi’s hair. It smelled like honey and Levi, a perfect combination. “I think it’s time to get up,” he decided, grabbing his phone to check the time.

“Five more minutes,” Levi bargained, pulling the blanket up further.

“Oh shit, Levi.”

Eren’s serious tone caught Levi’s attention. His eyes flew open and he sat up. “What?”

Eren pulled the Makoto Tachibana pillow between them, “Makoto saw everything we did last night. He’s going to judge us forever. He knows you’re cheating on him.”

Levi rolled his eyes and threw the Chain Chomp pillow right at Eren’s face. “Shitty brat.”

“Hey, now you’re awake! You should be thanking me!”

“Keep it up and I’ll have to dump you for Makoto,” Levi jokingly threatened, getting out of bed.

Eren got up too, inwardly cursing the cool morning air. He already missed having Levi curled up into him, but knew they both had things to get done that morning. Levi left to shower and Eren went to start the coffee.

In no time at all, Mikasa padded out to the kitchen and joined Eren. She gave him a look that said ‘I know what happened last night’ and Eren blushed and shrugged in reply.

“So today is our free day,” Eren started. “Armin had a good idea, actually. Since we’re not technically special guests today, he thought we could all cosplay. You up for a last-minute costume change?”

Mikasa smirked, “Oh, Armin told me about this already. We already have things prepared.”

“You do?”

She smirked and nodded, “Once we’re done with breakfast, I’ll get you your outfit for the day.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, cosplay, yay! If you guys have any suggestions/requests for who's dressed up as who, let me know! Our cast of characters participating in the cosplaying are: Eren, Armin, Mikasa, Sasha, Connie, Jean, Marco, Ymir, and Krista (Historia)! 
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	16. Convention 3.0

Eren strut through the convention hall wearing the biggest smile on his face and his specially assigned outfit for the day. Of course, he’d taken a plethora of photos and posted them all over his social media pages. Luckily for him, Levi was busy all day with convention activities and probably wouldn’t get a chance to see the photos before seeing it in person. He had to admit, Mikasa nailed it with the costume ideas.

Mikasa wore the most beautiful Sailor Saturn outfit. Apparently, she’d bought it especially for the event and spent hours deciding on a perfect fit. She wore the skirt and blouse and it fit her perfectly. She even pieced together the scythe on her own. Everyone at the convention had to do a double take and a few even came up to her to ask to take some photos.

Though, Mikasa wasn’t the only one drawing attention. Eren shamelessly walked beside her completely shirtless, wearing only black swimming jammers with green stripes. His heart pounded with anticipation, wondering just how Levi would react.

Mikasa threw the Iwatobi Swim Club jacket over his head. “You’re enjoying this _way_ too much. I never knew you were into public nudity.”

“It’s not _really_ nudity,” Eren tried with a cheeky smile. He threw the jacket over his shoulder and kept his eyes pinned on their destination. There were a few things he was excited about, the first of which was surprising his boyfriend.

The word rang in Eren’s brain: _boyfriend_. He loved the tone of it and loved how Levi’s face always appeared in his head alongside it even more. It was all unexpected and moving so quickly, it was still a little hard to believe it was true. Even so, it felt right.

He couldn’t believe how much he’d gotten to know about the man behind the screen and there was still so much more to learn. Eren couldn’t ever remember being so excited about getting to know another person and just then he was dying to see the look on Levi’s face showing off their little inside-joke of a cosplay.

Levi was at his table, though the setup changed quite a bit. There were tons of monitors showing off previews of Attack on Titan and he was signing new posters for the game.

“Oh my god, Mikasa, there are _posters now_ ,” Eren gaped at the table full of new merchandise. “And shirts too? Mikasa, we need to get them!”

“Eren we’ve got a box full at home,” she flatly informed him.

“But it’s not the same,” Eren’s eyes sparkled. “We’ve got to get one and get it signed!”

“Eren, do you really need Levi to sign it?”

“He won’t want to when we get home, he’ll be all tired out,” Eren slipped into line, dragging Mikasa with him.

“Eren, if you asked him at home, I bet he’d sign your ass if you really wanted him to.” Mikasa crossed her arms and gave him a small smile.

Eren perked up and gave Mikasa the biggest grin. Her sense of humor was golden.

A group of guys turned in line when they realized they were standing behind them. “HumanitysHope? Damn,” one of them whistled lowly. “You work out?”

“I try,” Eren laughed. “Well, really, Mikasa makes me. She’s my guru.”

“Oi,” a sharp, familiar voice cut through the line. All eyes turned to see an empty gap between the small group of waiting fans and Levi’s table.

The group of guys hurried up and got their autographs and photos, giving Levi all the praise in the world and telling him their own stories. Eren couldn’t help but beam with inner pride. It never ceased to amaze him how Levi inspired people from all walks of life. Eren himself was just like those guys, a dreamy-eyed fan with the overflowing excitement of meeting his Internet hero. And just like that, his heart was jittering as rapidly as the first time he’d met Levi. The group of guys moved on and Mikasa yanked Eren forward.

Apparently, Levi had spotted Eren’s outfit from a mile away already. Eren sulked for a second for missing his surprised expression. But, he did get to see something even more precious. Levi was flustered. His cheeks were red and his eyes kept scanning over Eren’s torso. He had to swallow before finally greeting them, “What’s… this…?”

Mikasa pointed her fake scythe at him. “Today’s our free day so we all decided to dress up in something other than the Attack on Titan gear.”

“Gotcha, sailor,” Levi used his index finger to shove the scythe out of his face. “And what about you? What’s your explanation?”

“Free day? Get it?” Eren joked, referring to his Makoto Tachibana getup.

“So you’re a walking pun, hm?”

“A cute walking pun,” Eren pouted, not getting the reaction he was looking for.

“True enough,” Levi agreed, grabbing the jacket from over Eren’s shoulder to properly slip it onto him, zipping it all the way to the top.

“What’s that all about,” Eren laughed, going to unzip the jacket.

Levi stopped him and mumbled something unintelligible.

“What?” Eren cocked his head to the side.

“He doesn’t want everyone here ogling at you,” Mikasa stated clearly.

Eren laughed, “I already posted tons of photos. It’s not like they haven’t seen me shirtless before.”

“Still. They can’t touch you through a screen,” Levi averted his eyes and tried to cover up his blushing cheeks with his palm. It was astronomically adorable to see him behaving in such a non-Levi kind of way. Eren was dying inside, wanting to freeze time so he could cherish the moment a little longer.

Eren leaned forward to give Levi’s reddened cheek a kiss. He wanted to do more than that, but they were already attracting some attention. Eren didn’t want to miss his chance, so he grabbed a poster and handed Levi a black marker.

“Are you serious right now?” Levi had to ask.

“One hundred percent,” Eren replied, his heart bursting with stupid, love-struck glee.

“Fine,” Levi sighed with a smirk, jotting down a little note before rolling up the poster and tossing it in Eren’s hand.

“I’m going to frame it and hang it up in the apartment,” Eren gave Levi one last hug before hurrying out of line.

“What’s it say?” Mikasa had to ask.

Eren unrolled the poster slightly, just enough to read the note. He read it aloud without a second thought, “Makoto, don’t change because you’re going to be fucking me-“

“Okay!” Mikasa interrupted, giving Eren a shove to get him to stop reading. “Did I ask to hear about my brother’s weird-ass sex fantasies?”

“Well, you _did_ ask me to read it,” Eren teased. “And it’s not weird. Who wouldn’t want a piece of this?”

“I’d pass,” Mikasa flicked him in the nose. “Are you really hanging that up in the apartment?”

“Definitely,” Eren couldn’t stop smiling. Okay, he probably wouldn’t hang it up but he’d definitely be keeping it amongst his most precious items for the rest of his life.

They met up with the rest of their group and Eren was happy to see the surprisingly well-done last-minute outfits.

Armin was the first to approach them, looking scarily alike to Kurapika from Hunter x Hunter. It was as if he jumped out of the screen and came to life. He even wore the chain-rings on his hands. Armin spotted Eren eyeing them and held up his hands for a better view, “Ebay is bae.”

“Please don’t ever say bae _ever_ again,” Eren pleaded jokingly and turned to the rest of his friends.

Ymir looked as standoffish as ever dressed in a surprisingly revealing rendition of Elizabeth Thompson from Soul Eater. However, with Krista at her side as Patricia the two looked adorable. “It was Krista’s idea,” Ymir was quick to explain.

“You like it,” Krista hummed with a hop, sporting her cowboy boots.

“If it were my way, we’d be married and not sisters,” Ymir gave her a poke on the cheek.

“But it’s cute this way! We match!” Krista poked her back.

“Yeah, yeah,” Ymir rolled her eyes with a warm smile.

“You’re so cute everyone wants to get photos with you,” Krista went on to compliment Ymir. “It sort of makes me jealous.”

Ymir’s expression took a rapid turn from indifferent to elated, “ _You’re_ the cute one!”

“Gag me now,” Jean interrupted their cute back and forth.

“You’re one to talk,” Ymir shot back, gesturing towards his own outfit.

Jean and Marco were dressed as Viktor and Yuuri accordingly. Their outfits didn’t look as last minute as everyone else’s and Eren guessed they had purchased them well in advance for the convention. Jean dyed his hair a beautiful Viktor-silver hue and had it styled elaborately. Marco pulled off the Yuuri look flawlessly. Together, they were quite the dashing pair.

“Oh my god, this was the best idea ever,” Sasha came in wearing a black clock, chewing on a chicken drumstick.

“What… are you?” Connie asked her. He was a spitting image of Konekomaru Miwa from Blue Exorcist, though perhaps it was just his shaved head that made it so realistic. It was easy to assume Connie went for a character that required the least amount of effort, dressing up only to appease his friends.

Sasha slapped on her wooden mask, completing her outfit. “Kaonashi. It’s great. Random people keep feeding me.”

Mikasa snatched the drumstick from her hand, “You shouldn’t eat food from strangers. It’s dangerous.”

“Sorry, mom,” Sasha pouted. “But if you’re taking away my food, you’re going to have to make me some yourself.”

“Deal,” Mikasa tossed the mysterious drumstick into the trash.

Eren watched his friends carefully, all apart of his grand scheme. He only had one chance to finally figure out whom Mikasa was secretly dating and he didn’t want to blow it.

He and Mikasa hung back while the others went to visit Annie, Bertolt, and Reiner who were all busy tending to hordes of fans. He chanced it with his best guess, “So how’s dating Sasha?”

“How’d you know?” she gasped.

Those three words gave her all away and Eren smirked like a cat who got the cream. “I knew it,” he lied. Really, it was a shot in the dark. Judging by her actions and mannerisms around Sasha, it was his best guess. Mikasa could have anyone in the world, after all.

She sighed and gave him a little shove, “Idiot.”

Eren was bursting with both pride of guessing correctly and excitement for his best friend. “Why haven’t you told anyone, really?”

She shrugged, “We weren’t sure how people would react. Plus, it’s been a little crazy lately. We’re fine keeping it a secret.”

“Are you?” Eren had to prod. Their phone conversation he’d eavesdropped on with Levi didn’t make ‘fine’ seem like the correct description. He tried to offer her some sort of comfort like she always did for him. “I think it’s great. And I bet Levi would too. And everyone else, really.”

She gave him a little smile. “She’s amazing. I don’t want to screw it up.”

“You’re Mikasa. You’re perfect. You won’t screw it up,” Eren tried to assure her. “I mean, even if you do… I screw things up all the time and things seemed to turn out okay! I bet they will for you too.”

“Thanks, Makoto,” she teased a little.

Eren watched her eyes light up as Sasha came running up to them with a bag of candy in her arms. “It’s in a package, so no one could have done anything to it, right?” she wiggled her eyebrows at Mikasa. “Plus, if I die from food poisoning, you can avenge me, Sailor Saturn.”

Mikasa just chuckled and opened the package for Sasha. Eren smiled at the two knowingly, silently promising to keep his mouth shut until they were ready to tell everyone.

They spent the rest of the day meandering around the convention with tons of laughs and huge smiles. Countless photos were taken by both their little group and random convention attendees. Mikasa especially got tons of attention and it was silly to see Sasha hover protectively around her. For once, it was someone else looking out for Mikasa instead of the other way around.

A few hours in and a hand caught Eren’s arm. He whipped around to see Levi, huffing and puffing as if he’d run across the entire hall to catch up to him.

“Levi!” Eren beamed. “What are you doing here?”

“Lunchtime. I’ve got an hour. Want to… eat at home?”

Something in the inflection of his voice told Eren that they wouldn’t be doing a lot of eating.

“Yeah, we could eat at home,” Eren was all to eager to agree. He waved off to his friends without explanation. Though, by the way Levi was pulling him through the convention was telling in its own way.

“So… Is it me being shirtless or the jammers that turn you on?” Eren leaned in to whisper discretely.

Levi took his nose between his fingers in scolding and chuckled, “Neither. It’s you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading and for your suggestions from the last chapter in the comments and via Tumblr! I really appreciate how amazing you guys are at 'participating' in this story and being so kind and such! I thank you endlessly! The next chapter will be smutty and not plot related, I'll warn you guys on what's going on at the beginning so you can decide for yourself if it's up your alley or not! 
> 
> Makoto Tachibana ~ Free!  
> Sailor Saturn ~ Sailor Moon  
> Kurapika ~ Hunter x Hunter  
> Kaonashi ~ Spirited Away  
> Konekomaru Miwa ~ Blue Exorcist  
> Yuri Katsuki ~ Yuri!!! on Ice  
> Viktor Nikiforov ~ Yuri!!! on Ice  
> Patricia Thompson ~ Soul Eater  
> Elizabeth Thompson ~ Soul Eater
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	17. Convention 3.5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! This chapter is purely Bottom! Levi // Top! Eren smut. There is no plot, just porn and silly, cheeky banter! Feel free to skip it if this is not to your taste and join back up for the next chapter! For those of you reading, I hope you enjoy it!

The cosplay Iwatobi jacket hit the floor as soon as the two lovebirds broke into the apartment in a tangled heap of kisses, furious groping, and teasing little nips.

“Not fair,” Eren pouted as they tumbled into Levi’s bedroom.

“What’s not fair?” Levi asked, his voice a little husky from the half-week of nonstop chatting to fans.

“I’m halfway naked and you’re…” Eren gestured to Levi’s entire Attack on Titan getup, yanking at one of the straps a little. “Plus, it’s our first time…”

“Now you’re getting sentimental?” Levi teased, throwing off his own jacket. In his efforts to undress properly, he picked up a cigarette lighter and a scented candle Mikasa got him for his birthday. He lit the flame and set it on his desk, “See? Now it’s romantic.”

Eren snorted and fell onto the bed, cocking his head a little, “You know that candle’s label says _You’re an Ass_ on it, right?”

“The back says, _Love, Mikasa_ ,” Levi retorted, spinning it around for a better view. “Smells like pine or some shit.”

“Wow, romantic,” Eren rolled his eyes and laughed.

“Fuck yeah, it’s romantic,” Levi agreed whole heartedly, yanking off the apparatus of leather straps that held his outfit together. With those gone, he was able to slip right out of everything except his underwear. “Now we’re even.”

Eren looked between his swimming jammers and Levi’s underwear and shrugged, “I guess we are.”

Levi crawled on top of Eren, making his way up his torso until they could finally kiss again. The two had slept together with their naked flesh pressed up together, but something about this was all different and it had Eren’s heart beating at a million miles a minute. This time they weren’t sleeping. This time, they both knew what was in store and they were both anxiously impatient. It didn’t have to be romantic or planned, it just had to be the two of them. That was all that mattered anyway.

Levi’s fingers dipped into the hem of Eren’s jammers, pulling at the elastic while he nipped at Eren’s lower lip. Something about the way he moved made him seem needy, desperate, and wanting. Eren swallowed up Levi’s expression and tattooed it on his heart to remember forever. It was a look he’d never tire of, one that would always give his core a jolt of sexual desire. His cock pulsed eagerly, wishing to be freed of the tight swimwear.

Luckily, Levi was happy to help. He peeled off the material, leaving Eren bare to the world. In their tit-for-tat, making-it-even game, Levi took off his own underwear as well.

“I’m guessing you’ve never bottomed before?” Levi assumed, grabbing some lube from the bedside table.

Eren shook his head and bit his lip. He’d always wanted to try, but never found the right person or the right time. When he did, he wanted to take his time and ease into it. In their short little lunch break, there would be no possibility of ‘easing in’.

Levi straddled Eren and opened up the bottle of lube with a snap. Eren took it from him before Levi could ready himself. No, that part would be reserved for Eren. He smirked as he applied copious amounts to his fingers. The cold, sticky fluid started to drip off of his fingers and onto his chest.

Eren reached under, his wet fingers grazing Levi’s balls before dancing around his rim. There was a first for everything and this was Eren’s. He slipped his index in, slowly and carefully. Levi sucked in a breath at the intrusion, but steadied his breathing quickly after.

Eren’s fingers worked Levi’s hot insides, pushing and stretching at an increasing pace. He’d seen enough porn and read enough smutty dōjinshi and fan fiction to know what to do. Hell, there were ten thousand works alone based off of himself and Levi as it was. He’d never admit to it, but he self-indulged in those quite a bit as well.

So he knew to start slow, to explore, and to feel. He listened for the little hints Levi dropped, a little gasp or a sigh. Eren got a little caught up, never thinking he’d ever be in this situation. He relished the hot softness, the tensing muscle around his finger and the tightness of it all. One of his hands yanked Levi down so he could hold him close and the other worked its magic to make Levi tremble.

He worked in another finger as he gained more confidence, using the two to stretch Levi out even further. In the mix of writhing and reeling, Levi grabbed a condom from the bedside table and ripped it open with his teeth.

“Haven’t you teased me enough?” Levi mumbled with the wrapper still trapped between his canines, even so he still came off as cheeky as usual. “Or is this show going to end before the grand fucking finale?”

Eren snorted and grinned, “Are you really making jokes at a time like this?”

“It’s always a good time to make you smile. Now fuck me.”

Eren burst out laughing and Levi did too. It was strangely perfect as they tumbled and turned so Eren could pin Levi down to the bedsheets. Levi’s hair splayed to one side and Eren bit his hip. It was almost too much to handle.

Eren combed his fingers through Levi’s hair and pulled his face up for one more kiss. Eren poked his tongue through Levi’s lips, invading his mouth with the intentions of dominating the space. He ran the tip of his tongue over the etches and grooves of Levi’s teeth, across the roof of his mouth, and danced around Levi’s tongue in a fun little game of dominance. A streak of saliva slipped down the corner of Levi’s mouth, which made Eren’s core throb some more.

Levi reached down to slip the condom on Eren’s waiting cock. He then grabbed for the lube, wetting his entire hand with the liquid. He started pumping Eren, spreading the wetness over his hot shaft. They made a silent agreement with one look: they were both ready.

Eren turned Levi around for an easier position, spreading his cheeks to take in the gorgeous sight before lining himself up. He went in for the first thrust and started pushing, slowly and mindful of Levi’s body language. He’d made it halfway when Levi’s tentative expression showed mild discomfort. “You okay?” Eren asked, worried as ever.

“Yeah, it’s just… been a while. You’re fine,” he managed to reply through clenched teeth.

Eren bit his lip and continued until Levi’s ass hit Eren’s hilt. He paused and let out a breathy moan, taking a few moments to enjoy the heat and pressure. Eren wanted nothing more than to continue at a breakneck speed. Levi wasn’t the only one who hadn’t gotten a decent lay in a while. Even so, he held back to taste the moment and relish in its full flavor.

Levi pushed back on him, showing Eren that it was okay to start moving. Perhaps, for once, Levi was more impatient than Eren. As much as Eren wanted to tease him about it, his sexual desires took priority.

He started off slow, but that didn’t last long. The two of them were pushing against one each other, needing harder and faster friction. All the pining, tension, and waiting met a screaming crescendo as the two of them fell into a rapid rhythm accompanied by their uninhibited moans and heavy breaths.

Levi even had the gumption to goad, “That all you got, Makoto?”

Eren wasn’t sure whether to slap him or laugh. He settled on both, smacking Levi’s ass and laughing a little too. Levi was chuckling too, resting his forehead on his forearm all the while. Eren had never been so carefree and comfortable with another person in bed before. Usually, it was a rush of messy thrusting and empty words. This was different and pure and _fun_. Eren didn’t even realize he was smiling so much.

Even with the giggles and jokes, his core was still on fire with need. Their naturally developed rhythm slowly sped up even faster in their search for a climax. Eren gripped Levi’s hip with one hand and curled around his body with the other, grabbing Levi’s weeping cock to give him some much-needed attention.

Levi grabbed Eren’s wrist and started lapping at his palm and sucking on his fingers. Once they were wet enough, Levi pushed Eren’s better-lubricated hand back to his cock. He sighed with satisfaction at the first few strokes, “Better. That’s _so_ much better. Fuck, Eren…”

Eren hummed in acknowledgement, trying to focus on keeping his hips moving and his hand pumping all at the same time. He felt so occupied with Levi and it was brilliant. Everything he did was to make Levi feel good, wanted, and needed. By the sounds of it, he was doing a good job which jacked off his ego as well. The added confidence had him taking some more chances.

His hand left Levi’s cock and scaled up to his nipples. Eren pinched onto one and earned himself a moan from Levi. “Good?” Eren asked with a chuckle.

Levi just hummed in approval, pushing himself even more into Eren.

“I wish I could suck on them…” Eren mused while rolling the delicate nub under his index finger. “But I don’t think I could pull out now to change positions…” he spoke the truth. With an ever-nearing orgasm on the crest, he didn’t have the will power to pull away.

“Yeah, don’t stop, Eren… please…” Levi agreed with bated breath.

With the sense that he wasn’t the only one almost ready to climax, Eren’s hand returned to Levi’s cock to resume his stroking and pumping.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck…” Levi hissed in warning, coming into Eren’s hand in spurting jerks. The hot, sticky liquid coated Eren’s hand and dripped down to the sheets in a mess.

“Oh, wow,” Eren whispered, the handful of come pushing him over the edge as well. He clamped both hands onto Levi’s ass to hold him steady while he came. The come splat onto Levi’s ass and the sound had Eren reeling. The sight of Levi with come all over his ass cheek, panting in exhaustion, and shivering with pleasure should have been illegal. As cheesy and cliché as it was, Eren was almost shouting Levi’s name as he came. For some reason, it just felt necessary to praise the name and shout it to the heavens. After all, it was the name of a man who gifted him something so fucking wonderful.

They had to pause for a moment to catch their breath. Eren folded over Levi’s back, resting his head between Levi’s shoulder blades.

“Thank god Mikasa isn’t here,” Eren randomly thought, laughing at the image of her having to listen to their horny cries.

“It worries me you think of my sister during sex,” Levi flatly replied, his face buried in the pillows. Eren could tell he was joking, despite his lack of telling tone.

Eren just laughed and slowly pulled out, tearing the two of them apart with slick ease. He rolled over to lie next to Levi and stare at the ceiling with a heaving chest. He turned his head to look at Levi, only to find he was staring right back.

“That was good,” Eren finally spoke after a few minutes of smiles and silence.

“Yeah,” Levi agreed, still not moving. “We need to shower.”

Eren laughed, “I knew you’d say that.”

“Can you blame me?” Levi gestured back towards his messy backside.

“Not at all. Want me to carry you?”

“Seriously?”

Eren rolled off the bed and collected Levi in his arms, “Seriously. It’ll be faster than waiting for your old, sore ass to stumble all the way there.”

Levi flicked him on the nose, “Rude. I even signed your poster today and you’re treating me like this? Such a brat.”

“Well, I’m your brat now. So… deal with it?” Eren jokingly suggested, padding his way across the apartment. He was exhausted and sore, but something in his chest loved carrying Levi around and his ego was singing.

“Erwin is going to ream my ass for being late…” Levi pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Hey, I already did that. Your ass is mine, Ackerman.” Eren turned on the shower and let the cool water wash over them. He let Levi down and the two of them leaned against the tiled walls of the shower for support. “You’re mine,” Eren decided to rephrase after a few seconds. He looked down at Levi with a grin.

“That ego of yours is showing,” Levi teased. “What happened to the nervous Eren Jaeger that forgets his luggage at the airport?”

Eren shrugged, “Turns out HumanitysStrongest is just as big of a dork as I am. He’s not too scary anymore.”

Levi pinched Eren’s cheek to pull his face down, just enough to give him a hard kiss on the lips. Eren pulled Levi into his arms once again and hoped he’d never have to let go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!! I appreciate all of you and I hope you had fun with this one!
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	18. Convention 4.0

“How did you stay motivated to keep up with your channel at the beginning?” a member of the crowd asked.

Eren stood on the stage with microphone in hand. He’d been answering questions at the individual question and answer day for an hour now with no end in sight. People kept jumping into line with new questions ranging from his favorite food to if he believes in aliens or not. Now they were rounding back to more topical questions about his career as a YouTuber and what the community was like.

He nervously laughed, “To be honest, I had a few role models I really looked up to. When I couldn’t find any motivation or got discouraged, I’d go watch some of their videos and realize that I needed to do this because it was fun for me. Once I got deeper into the community and made some friends, it became a lot easier too. I didn’t feel so alone anymore. Plus, I read all of your comments and they make a huge difference too. You’re all my motivators now too!”

His comment spurred on a happy applause until the next question was asked. “Do you have any big projects coming up soon?”

“Uh,” Eren scratched at his chin a little, “I’ve got tons of ideas right now, but not a lot of time because of the convention. Now that I’m moving here, there will be a lot of changes that we haven’t all discussed yet. Being here will let me do a ton more collaboration works, though, so I’m looking forward to that!”

“How’s your new relationship going?” another person asked, catching Eren off guard.

He blushed and was back to scratching at his jaw, “Ah, it’s, uh, really great. A little weird, but great.”

With the bright lights and stage fright, Eren didn’t even notice the next person in line until the all too familiar voice asked, “Are you calling me weird?”

Eren’s eyes adjusted to see Levi standing at the microphone with a cheeky smirk. “Levi!” Eren scolded. “Shouldn’t you be at your own thing right now?”

“I wanted to ask a question,” Levi defended himself, shrugging.

“So you abandoned your audience?”

“Well, half of them are here right now anyway,” Levi gestured to the crowd. “Hey, guys,” he acknowledged them all with a short wave before resuming his speech to Eren, “And our times overlap by twenty minutes, so I figured everyone would forgive me for being a little late.”

Eren had to smile at that. “Fine, what’s your real question?”

“What’s your ideal date?”

All eyes were on Eren and his face couldn’t get any redder. He supposed they’d never been on an official date before and it was a fair enough question. Still, in front of all these people, it was a little startling. “Ideal date?” Eren thought for a moment, trying to be honest without embarrassing himself too much, “Uh, probably eating something, talking, laughing… Maybe going somewhere pretty.” He tried to imagine himself on a real date with Levi and what they’d probably do. “Maybe play some video games under a blanket or something. Just… taking it easy and being together.”

A variety of cute noises came from the audience and Levi took the microphone into his hands, holding it close to his lips, “All right, Jaeger, you’ve got it.” Levi handed the microphone off to the next person and hurried back to his own stage in another room with one last wave on his way out.

Eren had to catch his breath for a second before moving on to the next person. He and the crowd were flustered up enough so that they all had to take a break and laugh a little. Finally, they could move on with the next real question, “Are you excited for the release of Attack on Titan? Have you gotten any sneak peeks?”

“I’ve seen the trailers and they look _awesome_! Sometimes Levi works on it at home and I watch his process a little, but it’s all sort of over my head. I might be able to give you guys a little sneak peek video soon, if Levi says it’s okay! With that, I think it’s about time for us to go. For those of you going to Levi’s Q &A, tell him I said hi! For the rest, have a great rest of the day! I think Sasha’s in the middle of hers right now, so go check it out too! Marco’s starts in a few hours, so I’m going to go get ready for that one!”

The crowd filtered out and Eren worked with the crew to put away the microphones and get ready for the next event. He looked back to the audience to see two people still sitting in the middle of the section, his parents.

He hopped off the stage and took a few steps closer as if to make sure they weren’t just an illusion. But no, they were there in the middle of a crowd of thousands, sitting right in front of him without him even realizing it.

“What are… you two… doing here?” Eren spoke slowly and carefully, trying to figure out what was going on. He assumed the last thing they wanted to do was see him and throw themselves right into the thing that was tearing them all apart.

“We were invited,” his father answered first, shuffling out of the isle with Carla right behind him.

“By who?”

“Your, uh, friend. Levi.”

“Levi invited you?”

“He called us a few days ago saying that we should really see what you were doing here,” Grisha explained. “So, we did.”

“And…?” Eren was waiting for some sort of criticism, some kind of moral blow to his heart.

“Eren, the girl who sat next to me said she watches your videos every day to help her with her depression. The boy next to Grisha said he’s been following you for years. He even wore a hat that said Squad Jaeger!”

“Oh, yeah, we were selling those,” Eren awkwardly picked at his Survey Corps jacket. He realized he’d been wearing one of Levi’s hats all day along with his uniform. He pointed up to the Squad Levi hat, “Levi has the same stuff.”

“Tons of people were wearing it, it was incredible,” Carla spoke with wide-eyes, completely enthralled. “And this stage! It’s huge!”

“Yeah, they give the people with more subscribers the bigger rooms since more people are bound to show up…”

“Over a million subscribers doesn’t look that big on a screen… but in this room… Eren…” Grisha was smiling, warmly and sincerely. It was an expression he hadn’t seen in years. “You’ve done a good job. All of this… is really amazing.”

“And you did it all by yourself,” Carla added. “Grisha and I were talking… We want to make things right. We know it won’t happen all at once, but you’re our son.”

Eren had to speak the truth as much as it hurt, “We’ve done this so many times, though. We try and try yet it never seems to work out… Just because you saw me talk to a room with tons of people in it doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t change the fact that I can’t be the person you’ve always wanted me to be. I don’t think I can do this again.” They were words he’d held on to for a while, never sharing them aloud. Now seemed like as good of a time as any to let them have a real, unfiltered piece of his mind. He added for clarity, “I still want to live here with Levi and Mikasa. There’s just so much more for me here…”

“And that’s fine,” Carla quickly nodded, emphasizing that Eren wasn’t wrong for moving. “We brought your things with us. We just didn’t want you to move on bad terms. We wanted you to know that we support you, no matter what you do or who you choose to be.”

His mother’s genuine acceptance was something he’d waited for so long to hear, but it just didn’t relief and revive his heart the way he imagined it would. There was no grand change, no alleviated pains, and no dark cloud floating away. Everything was still the same and he wasn’t sure where to go from there. “Okay…” he decided to go with. “How long are you in town?”

“Just for the day. We weren’t sure… how this would all turn out…” Grisha admitted. “We dropped your things off at your new place, Levi gave us the address and the key code… We decided we’d give this all a try and hopefully you’ll be open to us visiting sometimes.”

“We just don’t want to lose our son,” Carla honestly confessed with tears in her eyes. The regret was obviously there, but Eren still had his guard up.

“I mean, you’re not losing me. I’m just moving away,” Eren tried to console them, hating how the cycle was beginning all over again and he was letting it happen, encouraging it to start all over again.

They’d make up, connect, and feign a happy family once more. Then, something would trigger them and they’d decide they just couldn’t do it anymore. Eren would be left heartbroken, the end. He could see it all from a mile away. At least now, he could see it from half a country away instead.

He gave his parents a quick tour of the convention, showing them where his table was set up and getting stopped several times to chat with fans. It was embarrassing and awkward, like bringing your parents to a school dance or something. They just didn’t fit in and looked like complete dorks as they gawked at the vastness of it all.

During his lunch hour, he escorted them out of the building to the street. They really tried to connect and understand, which was a major step forward from their usual responses. Eren decided he’d be happy with their half-day together, satisfied that they’d made a little progress. No, it still wasn’t perfect and things weren’t fully mended. Eren just hoped it was the beginning of something new, a step towards breaking that stupid cycle for good.

His parents got in a taxi and were back off to the airport. Well, he figured, if they were willing to sit in a plane for the majority of two days, at least they were trying.

Eren stepped back into the convention hall and let himself wander a bit, looking around and stopping to snap some more pictures with fans. He enjoyed learning more about every individual and making sure they tagged him in the photos so he could go back and look at them later. Seeing their happy faces and hearing their personal stories lifted his heart and quickly erased away any lingering discomfort from his parents’ spontaneous visit. Eren couldn’t help but wonder why Levi even thought to invite them in the first place.

Mikasa caught him by the arm as the day wore on and tagged along with him. They visited their friends’ individual Q & A sessions and made some light chit chat about the convention, the fans, and how Eren’s session went.

“So they came, hm?” Mikasa finally said, bringing up the inevitable topic.

“Yeah, they did. Did you know they were coming?”

“I told Levi to invite them. I figured they needed to see it all before passing judgement.”

“Wait, you told Levi to ask them to come?” Eren stopped in his tracks.

Mikasa gave him a hard look, the look that meant she was speaking from her heart. “Eren, you’re amazing and have touched a lot of peoples’ lives. All these people came out here for you and know just how great you are. It sucks that your own family can’t see that. So, I figured the best way to show them was for them to see it with their own eyes.”

The corner of Eren’s mouth twitched up, unable to hide just how much he loved Mikasa. He crashed into her, hugging her tightly. “Well, my family does see that. You’re my family. You see that. That’s all that matters.” He pulled away and smiled, “I do think they’re a little less salty about it all now. And they brought my stuff to the apartment.”

“Eren…” she gave him another squeeze and let their little friendship-fest end on a happy note. "That’s good to hear. Want to catch the last bit of Marco’s session?”

Eren nodded and the two of them bolted through the maze of tables to get to one of the larger auditoriums. They snuck into the back row of the seats and watched Marco pace up and down the stage, ranting. “I made the name AutoBott when I was thirteen when I thought Transformers were the coolest thing. I thought I was pretty clever too. I actually met Jean because of our mutual love for Optimus Prime and the gang, so shout out to the animators of Transformers for helping me find my soulmate. But, lately, I think I’m changing. People change. And it’s time for a rebranding. So, AutoBott will now be known as Marco Bott instead.”

“Oh, he’s been telling us he was going to change that for months now,” Eren leaned over to whisper. “I’m glad he’s finally changing it.”

Marco went on to explain, “All the content will be the same, so don’t worry there! It’s been a pleasure growing up with you guys and watching how we’ve all changed. I can remember some of my first videos… they are so cringe-worthy, I’ve set them to private. I know a few of you have seen them though! But to think of how far we’ve all come, it’s amazing. Thank you all so much for standing by my side and cheering me on. There’s nothing I could ever do to repay you.”

Eren and Mikasa clapped first, stirring on a round of applause. Marco unknowingly set Eren into another round of introspection. People change and so could his parents.

 

Mikasa and Eren got back to the apartment a little later than planned. They ended up getting caught in a big chat with their friends and lost track of time. Levi was on the couch with his laptop, fighting off Creepers in Minecraft. Eren flopped down onto the couch next to him to watch him play.

“How’d it go?” Levi asked without even having to explain.

“Good,” Eren decided. “It went okay.”

“Your stuff is here,” Levi gestured towards the stack of boxes in the corner. “So… it’s official, right? You’re going to stay here?”

Eren nodded and grinned hard enough to split his face in two. Levi was grinning too, harder than Eren had ever seen. The two were stuck in a blissful puppy love and the world around them ceased to matter.

“What the fuck is this doing here?” Mikasa pointed to a very prominent framed poster that Levi had signed for Eren.

“He said he wanted it hung up,” Levi spoke as if it were common knowledge.

Mikasa rolled her eyes, smiled, and tossed her jacket onto Levi’s face. “I’m going to bed. You two try to control yourselves tonight.”

Eren snickered and Levi tossed her jacket off his face. “I’m headed to the Nether. Are you going to keep me safe from the Ghasts?”

“Always,” Eren promised, draping his arms over Levi as a makeshift human shield. “Always.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thanks for reading! I really appreciate all your input, comments, bookmarks, and happy thoughts! <3 Thank you all so much! 
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	19. Convention 5.0

Eren sat back to watch the Group Q&A. The entire Attack on Titan team sat up on the stage along a long table with their name plates sitting in front of them. Levi sat in the center with Hange and Erwin on either side of him. More people Eren hadn’t met yet were flanking them as well, creating a huge team of creators, designers, programmers, and everyone else that was involved in any aspect of the game. Apparently, there were even more people involved that couldn’t show up to the event but were listed on a flier they’d handed out. Eren marveled at all the names and took the time to pick out Levi’s, pointing to it and showing Mikasa as if they were proud parents at their child’s school performance.

There were so many questions ranging from the game itself to the gaming community to what Survey Corps was planning next. As they watched Levi and his co-workers answer all the questions, Eren remembered what kind of celebrity he really was. Even so, that divide was closing and he realized he wasn’t seeing Levi as his personal role model and unapproachable idol any longer. Levi was… Levi and that was it.

“Hey, Eren, look,” Jean whispered from the seat next to him and pointed up at Levi, “You suck his dick.”

“Yeah, I know,” Eren replied with a smirk, “Pretty cool, huh?”

Jean gave Eren a little punch on the arm. Eren guessed he had probably expected a flustered, blushing reply and not something so casual. Even so, Eren smiled proudly and stared up at Levi with sparkling eyes. Maybe he had realized Levi was just a normal person, but he was still amazing in Eren’s eyes.

Mikasa tapped on her phone and Eren peeked over to see that she was texting Levi.

 **Mikasa [12:54pm]:** Fix your hair. Just sweep it to the side or something. It’s flopping in your face.

Eren watched to see Levi look down at his lap, think for a second, and then swept his hair to the side. He had to admit, it looked a lot better. It gave Eren an idea. He snagged his phone sent his own message.

 **Eren [1:02pm]:** Your hair looks sexy like that :*

He watched Levi casually looked down at his phone, pause, and look up to the crowd searching for Eren. Once they made eye contact, Levi smirked and rolled his eyes. Levi answered someone’s question and the conversation focused to Erwin after, so Eren took another chance.

 **Eren [1:28pm]:** Leave it like that when you fuck me later ;)

Levi saw the message right away and looked straight to Eren with an expression somewhere in between shock and ardent anticipation. Eren could see him typing a message back discretely.

 **Levi [1:30pm]:** Who said I was going to fuck you later?

Eren was ready with a devious reply and even spent the time to match Levi’s perfect spelling and grammar.

 **Eren [1:31pm]:** Me. We’re going to go home tonight and I’m going to strip out of this uniform. You’re going to kiss me all over and push me to my knees so I can undo your pants and pull them down a bit, just enough so you can fuck my face.

With a pinch of confidence, Eren sent the message off and waited excitedly. The look on Levi’s face was priceless. He seemed to have banged his knee on the bottom of the table and was trying his best to hide it. Eren doubted anyone really noticed, but he’d be sure to watch the recorded video of the session to see that expression again and again. While Eren was snickering to himself, Levi sent him a reply.

 **Levi [1:34pm]:** You’re cruel and you won’t strip entirely out of that uniform. Those leather straps might come in handy.

Eren grinned down at the text and looked up to Levi who was rolling his eyes and shifting in his seat. Eren got another message shortly after.

 **Levi [1:35pm]:** So, what else am I going to do to you?

Eren was beaming at that point. He lowered the brightness on his phone and double-checked that neither Jean nor Mikasa were watching him.

 **Eren [1:39pm]:** Finger me. Kiss me. Bite me.

 **Levi [1:41pm]:** I think I can manage that.

 **Eren [1:42pm]:** Fuck, I want you inside me.

Levi banged his knee on the table again and barely managed to hide it. He sent one last message, a promise.

 **Levi [1:44pm]:** When we get home tonight. I’ll make you feel amazing.

“This wraps up the group panel, let’s give our Attack on Titan staff a big round of applause!” the host announced, beginning the waves of clapping. “Please enjoy the rest of the convention and tomorrow we will begin our Attack on Titan demo events!”

Crowds filtered out of the auditorium hall back out to the main room. Everyone returned back to their tables and Mikasa joined Eren at his own table. They were able to spend a bunch of time chatting with fans now that the initial bulk of people had come and gone.

A group of girls spent more time chatting with Mikasa than Eren at one point, which was refreshing.

“How is it living with Levi and Eren now?” one of them asked with a giggle.

Mikasa thought for a moment and smiled, “It’s really nice. Levi and I get along better now that Eren is around.”

“It’s not weird at all?” another inquired.

Mikasa shook her head, “They’re gross sometimes but it’s not weird.”

“Gross?” Eren poked her on the cheek. “Really?”

“Totally.”

“Mikasa! Eren!” Sasha approached the table with Connie at her side. The group of girls waved their goodbyes to give the group of friends a chance to chat. Connie announced, “They’re throwing another party for us tonight. You in?”

“Sure!” Eren burst. “Mikasa?”

She nodded and gave Sasha a look. Eren wondered what they were secretly saying, but he figured he wouldn’t make a scene. Instead, he asked, “Do you think Levi will go?”

“Oh, here. Let’s try Marco’s trick!” Connie cupped his hands around his mouth, “HUMANITYSHOPE SUCKS!”

Levi popped out of the crowd and flicked Connie on the temple.

“Works like fucking magic…” Connie marveled.

“Or just good timing,” Eren snickered. “So, are you going to the party thing?”

Levi shrugged, “I actually came to tell you we have a lot of work to get done on the game tonight, but I’ll try to make an appearance. Hange will probably force us all out of the office so she can go too.”

“You can be our designated driver,” Mikasa suggested. “Our favorite chauffer.”

“Sure, sure.” Levi ran a hand through Eren’s hair and mussed it a bit. “Wouldn’t want this one getting lost in the city drunk off his ass or some shit.”

“That was a great group panel, by the way,” Eren smirked.

“Yeah, seriously, I’m so pumped for the game now!” Connie added, unaware of the secret texts Eren was truly referring to.

Connie’s comment had Levi blinking up from Eren and smiling, “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah! We’re all stoked!” Connie was almost jumping up and down with excitement. “It’s amazing that a YouTuber just like us could be a part of something so cool!”

For some reason, Levi seemed a bit taken aback by Connie. Eren thought about it and realized this could have been the first time someone from Eren and Mikasa’s circle really approached him about the game. It seemed they were both shocked that the two were related and intimidated by Levi’s success. Eren thought back to when they first met and could easily relate.

“Thanks,” Levi finally replied, probably taking a bit of time to formulate what exactly to say. “After the convention, I have it on a playable format at home. Eren’s going to do the first playthrough, you should come too. All of you.”

Eren looked between everyone with wide eyes and a huge grin. “Yes!” he burst. “That’d be so much _fun_!” He bounced a little and grabbed onto Levi’s arm in a rush of excitement.

“All of us… coming over…” Sasha looked to Mikasa again. “That does sound fun…” She winked fairly obviously, smirking like a cat who got the cream.

“We’ll let the others know,” Connie agreed, giving them a thumbs up. “In the meantime, we’ll see you tonight!”

Sasha looked a little disappointed as Connie toted her away and Mikasa looked a little sad too. Eren gave her a nudge on the shoulder and a smile.

“So, we’ll see you later tonight?” Eren asked Levi with hopeful eyes.

“Yeah, Eren, have you been checking your phone lately?” Levi changed the subject somewhat abruptly, making Eren scrunch up his face in confusion.

“No? What’s going on?”

Mikasa was on the case, thumbing through pages of social media. “Oh no…” she looked down at the comments with a look of concern.

Eren looked over her shoulder to see the plethora of messages.

_It’s obvious they’re just dating for attention._

_Isn’t Levi way older than Eren? Gross._

_This is just sad. They’re feeding off each other’s fame._

_They can’t even make their own videos anymore. Gag me._

_It’s just a stunt. They barely know each other and now Eren is going to live with him? Unsubscribed. I’m not dealing with this fake, dramatic shit._

_I bet this is just a way to get more people to buy Attack on Titan. They’ll be broken up in a month._

The onslaught of critics had a bubble of frustration emerging in Eren’s gut. There would always be a toxic group of people online, no matter what. Eren expected as much, but the emotion still resided deep in his heart. He wanted to reply: who are you to judge? But, from years of experience online, he knew it’d be best to let it go.

Levi was peering over Mikasa’s other shoulder and grimaced at the screen. Eren guessed he felt the same, angry but dismissive. The worst part was an article Mikasa pulled up titled _Attack on Titan: The Biggest Survey Corps PR Stunt This Year_. The article didn’t stand alone either as it had several partners titled _YouTuber Turned Game Developer? A Recipe for Disaster_ and _Survey Corps Gaming Charity Case: Attack on Titan_.

Mikasa put her phone away and huffed, “Morons.”

“Yeah,” Eren agreed. “Don’t even worry about it.”

Levi shrugged and didn’t say anything. The wave of negativity had Eren’s gut twisting with rage. He wanted to do something, say something, but what could he do? He didn’t have to justify his emotions to a crowd of strangers nor did he have to defend Levi’s game. Even so, the anger still bubbled.

 

The anger was still simmering as Eren sat at the bar between Jean and Marco. Music blasted around them and bunches of people were dancing, laughing, and enjoying themselves.

“You look like you need a drink,” Jean passed Eren something fruity looking and Eren downed it without a second thought. Jean was right, he needed it and it helped take the edge off. “Seriously, you look like you’re going to murder someone.”

“What’s got you down, Eren?” Marco asked too.

Eren divulged it all to them in a big string of words, not even taking a break in between to breath. When he finally finished the explanation, he had to catch his breath.

“Yikes, that sucks,” Jean chuckled a little. “Can’t say I wasn’t aware.”

“Yeah, that stuff spreads like the plague,” Marco agreed. “But like anything, it’ll pass. You two are doing well, aren’t you? You always seem infatuated with each other.” Marco giggled a little.

“More than well,” Eren thought. “It’s been amazing. Levi’s… he’s…” Eren knew he could go on forever about all the wonderful things about his new boyfriend, but decided he’d save his friends from gagging. “He’s perfect,” Eren finished his sentence with a smile.

Jean and Marco shared a look and they both offered cheerful smiles. They hopped off the barstools and headed towards the dance floor. Eren followed suit and they all stopped to stare at the scene before them.

Mikasa and Sasha were connected ass to crotch, dancing together in a slow, sultry grind. Sasha stood in front, shifting with the beat and sliding her hands up her thighs and through her hair. Mikasa had one hand latched on to Sasha’s hip and the other grazing up Sasha’s thigh. The two had their eyes shut, focusing on only the music and each other.

“I called it,” was the first few words out of Marco’s mouth.

“He called it,” Jean confirmed, still staring with his mouth hanging open.

“She told me first,” Eren smirked at them, as if it were a contest.

“What are we looking at?” Levi came up behind all three of them with Hange at his side, both of them stopping in place when he saw Mikasa and Sasha.

“That’s your sister,” Hange nudged at Levi and beamed. “Looking hot as hell per usual.”

The song ended and the two women broke out of their trace, catching the gazes of their friends. Mikasa’s eyes widened with excitement and she staggered over to the group with Sasha’s hand clutched in her own. “Look! Sasha!” Mikasa ran head first into Eren, nearly tipping him over. Sasha detached and tumbled into Marco.

Mikasa looked up to Eren with wide eyes and slurred, “Missed you, Er.”

“Missed you too, Mi,” Eren slowly answered. “Are you hammered?”

“Lil bit,” Sasha answered for her. “Some guys bought us shots.”

“What guys?” Levi asked, scanning the area with a glare.

“Dunno,” Mikasa answered slowly, “But we’re dancing now!”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen her drunk before…” Eren marveled.

“Guys…” Marco gestured towards Sasha, who was dozing off against him.

Mikasa pushed off of Eren and took Sasha into her arms, “Let’s go to bed…”

“Let’s go home,” Eren shuffled them towards the exit with Levi following suit.

They all got into the car, which took a little maneuvering on Eren and Levi’s part to get the girls to stay in, and had a mostly peaceful ride back to the apartments. The two were almost conked out by the time they pulled into their usual parking spot. Levi took Mikasa in his arms and Eren took Sasha, both of them struggling to haul the two girls up to Mikasa’s room and tucking them into Mikasa’s bed.

“That’s one way to come out of a secret relationship,” Eren laughed softly as Levi closed Mikasa’s bedroom door.

“It was about time,” Levi shrugged. “They’ve been hiding it for way too long.”

The two got ready for bed themselves, Eren attempting to be quiet and Levi not giving a fuck. He explained, “There is no chance in hell either one of them is waking up any time soon.”

Eren was ready to get under the covers and sleep off the long day when Levi stopped him. “Did you forget?”

“Forget what?”

“You said I was going to fuck you later,” Levi crawled over Eren and smirked, “And I said I’d make you feel amazing.”

Eren’s eyes lit up and a smile crept across his face. “Oh really?”

“Really.” Levi delivered a hard kiss, one that promised an evening of so much more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for being so supportive of this fic! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and just to warn you, the next chapter will be smutty featuring bottom!Eren and top!Levi! <3<3
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	20. Convention 5.5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! This chapter has bottom!Eren and top!Levi. If it is not your cup of tea, you are free to skip this chapter! There is a bit of plot near the bottom, but it will be repeated/reiterated in the next chapter for those who choose not to read this one! <3 Thank you for reading if you choose to and if not, I'll see you next chapter!

As Eren had never bottomed before, he wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. He’d taken fingers up the ass and enjoyed it, so he figured it wouldn’t be a horrible experience. With Levi in command, he _knew_ it wouldn’t be a horrible experience and he trusted Levi to take care of him during the entire experience.

The initial lubed finger poking through his hole was always a shock, he sucked in a breath and Levi paused. Eren lay on his back in bed with Levi bent over him, one hand in Eren’s hair and the other reaching down between his legs. Their clothes were removed in an eager rush and when they collapsed onto the bed, time seemed to slow down as they both prepared. Levi wanted to take things slowly, carefully. Eren was starting to think Levi was afraid of breaking him or something.

“It’s fine,” Eren breathed, wiggling a bit to get Levi going again. With the thought that Mikasa and Sasha were just on the other side of the far wall, he tried his best to remain quiet as to not wake them. Their presence didn’t bother him much, but he still attempted to save them from a possibly awkward situation. He imagined that hearing his pornographic moans would scar them for life and they’d never look at him the same way again.

It was a silly thought to have while he was under the most amazing man he’d ever met. Levi had to have come from another planet, there was no way he could be real. His body was chiseled beautifully from an obvious rigid workout schedule that he’d been skipping out on since the convention started. Eren let his hands wander, exploring the ridges and dips. Levi shivered at the touch and worked his finger gracefully with an expert touch, doing his best not to be too rough or awkward. It wasn’t a secret that this wasn’t his first time around the block and at this rate, Eren knew it definitely wouldn’t be the last time they did this either.

He listened to Levi’s breath, calm and level but soon to rise in tempo and harshness. Eren allowed himself to close his eyes to really _feel_ their warming skin, the way Levi’s chest bumped against his side with every inhale and exhale, and of course the finger flexing in and out of him. “More…” Eren softly instructed, knowing Levi wouldn’t have made the move himself for fear he went too far too fast. He didn’t know everything about Levi yet, but he knew that Levi cared a lot more than he let on. Especially during their private, intimate moments together. They had tons of time for ravenous, mindless sex. For now, Eren was just happy to explore these new sensations with him, taking their time. Of course, he wasn’t the most patient man in the world but Eren was happy to wait a bit before diving all in. He found himself cherishing these moments more than he’d ever imagined.

They needed this moment to forget about the impending toxic outside world. With their phones and laptops off, no one could reach them electronically. The door kept out any anxieties waiting for them beyond their sacred realm found in one another. There was no one doubting their relationship or criticizing it for all its obvious faults. There was no one poking holes in Levi’s dream, deflating the momentous feat of achieving the goal he’d poured his heart and soul into.

Levi slipped in another finger with reasonable ease, curling his fingers a little and spreading them slowly. “Good?” he asked against Eren’s skin.

“Mm,” Eren turned to give Levi an assuring kiss. The slight stubble itched at his skin but Eren didn’t mind one bit. “More,” Eren said again, a little more demanding as his will to savor the moment for all its worth slowly dwindled away and was replaced with growing ardor. “I’m ready,” he decided with firm determination.

“Already?” Levi kept up the same pattern of movements with his fingers.

He found a certain, hidden spot inside Eren that had him sucking in a breath. “Oh, wow,” Eren gasped. “Yeah, already.”

He really was ready. He’d read damn near every article about bottoming when he found out he liked men as well as women and the idea fascinated him to no end. Eren had wanted to try for so long, but it never felt right. He wanted someone he trusted, someone with experience. After spending copious amounts of time in the bathroom preparing himself for the moment, to make sure he didn’t totally embarrass himself, and he knew he was ready.

Levi pulled his fingers out and let them tease Eren’s balls and run up the underside of Eren’s cock that was bobbing up by his naval. Eren let out a dirty little sound at the touch, biting his lip. In an effort to help, he grabbed the condom they’d set on the bedside table and ripped it open to slowly slip it onto Levi’s erection.

“I think your hands and knees would be best,” Levi gave Eren’s hip a few taps to encourage the change in position. “You have to promise to _tell me_ what you’re feeling. You won’t hurt my feelings if it isn’t good.”

“Okay,” Eren agreed, rolling over and hiking his ass up in the air. It already felt a little weird after Levi had fingered him, but it wasn’t so bad. He’d imagined Levi taking him for years, a guilty pleasure of his. Now it was really going to happen and Eren’s mind was spinning.

Levi bent over him and slowly kissed down his spine, rubbing his sides and running his fingertips of Eren’s ass cheeks. “Relax,” Levi whispered, coaxing any tightness Eren had in his muscles to ease and subside.

“It’s hard. I’m too excited,” Eren admitted with a little laugh, turning to catch a glimpse of Levi’s face in the darkness. Levi was smiling too, still running his hands all over Eren’s body. Eren took a deep breath, “Okay, okay, I’m relaxed.”

Levi leaned down and blew on Eren’s earlobes, making him shiver. “Really?”

“Really,” Eren promised, turning slightly to give him one last kiss before they got started. “I just really want you inside me.”

Levi ran a hand through Eren’s hair, “You’re too good to me. Okay, I’ll start.”

With a firm grasp on Eren’s hips, Levi liberally lubed up his cock as well as dousing Eren’s pucker with more as well. He pushed in and Eren couldn’t help but tense up. “Relax,” Levi reminded him yet again with a gentle tone, “Breathe.”

Eren did as he was told and once his muscles eased up again Levi started again, slowly and carefully. The stretch wasn’t like anything he’d felt before and it took him by surprise.

“Tell me what you’re feeling, Eren,” Levi kissed Eren’s tailbone, careful to not jostle their connection.

“It’s… a stretch,” Eren got out, trying to keep his voice just as calm and level as Levi’s. He didn’t want Levi to pull out and he definitely didn’t want to stop. This was something he’d craved for _years_ and he didn’t want to throw it away because of this new sensation. “Please don’t stop,” he said, just in case Levi got the idea in his head. After a few quiet seconds, Eren took a deep breath again, “Okay, keep going.”

Levi pressed in some more and Eren realized that once he’d gotten used to Levi’s head the rest of him was fine. It took a bit, but he finally found the pleasure in being filled. Their slow pace eventually had him making those wonderful groans and moans.

“Touch yourself for me,” Levi instructed in a husky whisper. “If I do it, I know you won’t last long.”

“That’s pretty cocky,” Eren managed to joke, balancing his weight on his forearm and using his free hand to grab his cock. The copious amounts of lube Levi had used earlier came in handy as it gave him some extra slick as he pumped himself.

“You know it’s true,” Levi teased further, picking up the pace when he realized Eren was getting more and more comfortable with the motions and pressure.

Despite their current situation, somehow Levi kept his tone relatively under control. Eren decided it was a challenge, he wanted to shake Levi up a bit. He felt at ease enough to push his ass back into Levi’s thrust causing him to reach a new depth. A lewd groan escaped Eren’s mouth a bit too loudly for his liking and he promptly clamped his mouth shut and blushed furiously. He hid his face by habit, it wasn’t like anyone would be able to see the red tint across his entire face in the dark.

Eren was happy they could be themselves during this experimental passage of time. It wasn’t awkward or too embarrassing. Eren wasn’t terrified that Levi was disgusted by him or worrying over silly little things. He lost himself in the moment, paying attention to only Levi and the wonderful sensations sparking through his body. For years, he overthought and chickened out of bottoming, unsure if it was his thing or not. The way Levi’s hips smacked against his ass, the fullness in his lower half, and the pulsing of Levi’s cock inside him definitely convinced Eren that this wouldn’t be their last time in this position.

“Tell me how you’re feeling,” Levi murmured, dropping even more kisses down Eren’s spine and slowing his thrusts a little.

“Like I’m going to come soon,” Eren got out, giving his cock a few more slower strokes to match Levi’s pace. “You’re so good…”

“Oh yeah?” Levi was attempting to get Eren to talk some more and Eren was happy to oblige. He’d stroke Levi’s ego all day without even trying, he had an endless list of things he wanted to shout to the world about his fantastic boyfriend.

“You’re so fucking sexy, it isn’t fair,” Eren blurted out. “And this… I wouldn’t have done this with anyone else… Just you.”

Levi hummed and his breath hitched a little, regaining some momentum. Eren could tell he wasn’t the only one close to coming, which was good because he wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold out. While he couldn’t see Levi, the countless images of him were passing through his mind: every time he jacked off to his videos, seeing him for the first time, watching him laze around the apartment, seeing him at the convention. It all flooded through his brain and he realized how fucking lucky he was. The thoughts brought the oncoming orgasm down on him hard and he was spurting into his hand in a lazy attempt to catch everything before it splattered into the bedsheets.

Apparently, his body spasms had Levi coming as well. He gripped onto Eren’s hips, stifled his moans, and ended up hissing, “Ah, fuck, Eren.” After finishing up, he slowly pulled out of Eren and took care of the used condom swiftly.

Eren flopped onto his side, hand frozen in place and covered in semen. It was hot, sticky, and dripping down his arm but Eren’s mind was far beyond the white puddle in his hand. He felt like he was up in the clouds, floating peacefully.

Levi came around with some tissues to help clean up the best he could. Eren idly stilled, letting Levi take over with the tidying up. He was tired and his backside promised its own set of new aches and pains that he’d never quite experienced before. “Wow,” he breathed, finally coming back down to earth.

Levi softly chuckled and Eren wished he could have seen his expression. “Wow is right,” he agreed, slipping some sleeping clothes back on. He hesitated just a moment before daring to turn his phone back on.

Eren grabbed some clothes off the floor, knowing they were his. Levi didn’t throw his clothes on the floor like that, he tended to at least aim for the hamper or his chair. He slipped on his underwear and a shirt, tossing his pants in the corner with hopes they made it close enough to the hamper. When they didn’t, Levi squinted down at his phone and walked over to throw them in properly.

“What time is it?” Eren had to ask.

“Three,” Levi flatly answered, his mind clearly distracted by something on his phone.

“What’s going on?” Eren had to ask, his brows furrowing together. He had to wonder if it was more slander or bad news, praying to every deity in existence that it wasn’t the case. He wanted nothing more than to slip under the blankets, curl up with Levi, and forget about everything beyond their little world together.

“The game… it’s not working…” Levi struggled to get out. His thumb was flipping through both texts and emails, catching up on all communication regarding the game. “I’m so sorry, Eren. I have to go. They need me at the office to figure this shit out… I can’t do it at home…” He ran a hand through his hair and groaned, “I’m sorry to pull this shit on you, especially now.”

“No, no, it’s okay!” Eren knelt up in bed, watching Levi throw on some regular clothes using his phone as a flashlight. Eren did him a favor and turned the lamp on the bedside table on.

“Thanks…” Levi mumbled, realizing he was putting on his black t-shirt on backwards. “We can’t even do the demo tomorrow at the convention if we can’t get it running…”

“You’ll figure it out,” Eren tried to make him feel better, though there wasn’t much he could promise. He didn’t know the slightest thing about why the game wasn’t working or how complicated the problem was, but he did believe in Levi.

Levi put a hand on Eren’s cheek and kissed him. When he pulled away, Eren could really see how sorry he looked. “I’d rather stay…” Levi tried to form a coherent sentence in the midst of his obvious stress.

Eren appreciated in a way he couldn’t express, so he kissed Levi again and shooed him off, “Go save the day. Do you think you’ll come back after?”

“If we get it fixed, I’ll probably stay and sleep on a couch or something. I’ll see you when you get there. Make sure to tell Mikasa and Sasha what happened, okay?”

Eren nodded and Levi was racing off with his backpack in hand.

With Levi gone, Eren sprawled out on the bed worrying himself. Despite the weight of his concern, his tired body willed him to get some much needed rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thank you for reading! 
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	21. Convention 6.0

Eren stalked out to the living room feeling exhausted as ever. He took a thorough shower after Levi had left and barely made it to bed by four in the morning. His alarm went off at seven, leaving him with almost three hours of sleep. Not only was he brought down by lack of sleep, but also by Levi's sudden leave. After they'd gotten the unfortunate message that the game wasn't working, Levi left in a rush. Eren was left panicking and hoping things could come together quickly. Luckily, the atmosphere was light in the living room and it perked him up a bit. Mikasa and Sasha were laughing about something on the couch.

“Did Levi come back?” Eren asked first, throwing on his Survey Corps jacket.

“Did Levi leave?” Sasha yawned, looking around the room.

Mikasa giggled erratically and held up a photograph, “Eren!”

Eren rounded the couch and looked to Sasha, “Is she still…?”

“Totally hammered. I don’t know how,” Sasha answered with a smile, “It’s pretty cute.”

“ _You’re_ cute!” Mikasa shouted back, unaware of her own vocal volume. “But look! Emo Eren!” The photo she held up was proof of Eren’s “it’s not a phase, dad” phase. He’d gotten his hair trimmed like old-school Anthony Padilla, bringing in his photo as inspiration for the hair dresser. He straightened his hair and wore dark clothes all the time. He blasted alternative music through his speakers and spent hours looking up different cringe-worthy tattoos he wanted.

“Oh god, no.” He went to snatch the photo from Mikasa and looked down to realize they were digging through a whole shoebox of his childhood photos.

“Mikasa drug them out this morning, I think she thought there were shoes in there,” Sasha explained. “And we stumbled upon this little number…” She held up a full body photo of Eren in his dark skinny jeans and a tight black shirt. “I’m pretty sure these belong on MySpace.”

“Some of them were,” Eren admitted, covering his face with his hands.

“Where’s Lee-Lee?” Mikasa asked.

“The game isn’t working,” Eren sighed. “He left late last night.”

“I bet he’s fixed it,” Sasha tried to sooth Eren’s obvious worries.

Eren glanced down at his phone and considered texting Levi, but decided against it as to not bother him. His concerns were weighing him down, with the bad reputation his game was getting already this would throw a wrench into the whole thing and would certainly bring Levi down with it. He wanted to do something, but wasn’t sure what.

“We better go,” he decided, anxious to arrive at Survey Corps and figure out what was going on. With Levi still gone and the car gone as well, Eren called them a cab and stuffed his face with some bread for breakfast. “Do you think Mikasa should stay and rest?”

“She’d hate us for leaving her behind,” Sasha held Mikasa’s hand tightly. “We can drop her off at Levi’s office and she can sleep on the couch, probably. Want to go for a ride to the convention, Mikasa?” Sasha raised her voice as if she were talking to a puppy.

“Let’s _go_!” Mikasa slapped them both on the backs, leading them down to the front entrance.

 

“So far, so good…” Eren observed the crowds milling around the convention hall, checking out the new merchandise set out for the game and interacting with their favorite internet stars. Apparently, some famous voice actors that voiced the characters in the game were signing autographs up front. Eren’s inner fan boy wanted to rush up and get in line, but they were busy scouting around the room for any sign of Levi. He wasn’t at his stationed table, nor was he in any of the auditoriums. Sasha went to go alert their friends, leaving Eren in charge of holding Mikasa’s hand and making sure she didn’t get lost.

“Eren! Mikasa!” a voice called out from the crowd. Farlan came rushing through the mobs of people, nearly stumbling all over himself to reach them. “Come on…” He led them through the hallways and stairs, explaining, “I mean, I know he tends to let himself go when things don’t go his way. But he’s… he needs you guys.”

“What happened?”

“Our servers crashed last night and we lost a lot of data. It’ll take days to get it back running smoothly. Levi’s… disappointed he hadn’t been working on it harder,” Farlan led them to a floor with tons of glass walls and windows. Tons of cubicles and offices were spread out. Golden name plates lined the doors. _Erwin Smith. Hange Zoe. Mike Zacharias. Levi Ackerman_.

Farlan led them into his office where Levi sat on the couch with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands, not even noticing their presence. Isabel sat on one side of him and Erwin on the other, both of them seemingly out of comforting words to say and looked just as hopeless as he did.

“At least try to take a nap or something while we figure this out,” Isabel pleaded. “You’re dead tired.”

“Uh, Levi,” Farlan tried to get his attention. Levi looked up and his eyes softened a little when he saw Eren and Mikasa. Still, the dark circles under his eyes told no lies. Levi was exhausted and out of options.

“We couldn’t fix it,” he confessed to Eren with the most depressed expression.

Mikasa took a clumsy step forward and sat on Levi’s lap, she patted his head and smiled, “We’ll find a way.”

All eyes were on Eren and he shrugged, “She’s still tipsy from last night.”

“I’m not sure tipsy covers it,” Erwin laughed as she poked at his eyebrows.

Eren wracked his brain for ideas. No, he couldn’t fix the game. That was beyond his skillset. But, what wasn’t beyond his skillset was having a good time. “I’ve got this.”

He snagged Levi’s car keys from his desk and started running.

* * *

Levi wasn’t sure what to expect as he was walked out to the convention hall. Eren had been gone for two hours, during so Levi tried to remember to breathe properly. His mind was spiraling in a fit of self-depreciating thoughts. _I should have spent more time on it. I shouldn’t have left my work to everyone else. I shouldn’t have slacked off. What the fuck was I thinking?_ Another thought crossed his mind that hurt him the most: _Eren will be devastated._

They got Mikasa some coffee and she napped on his shoulder. They’d grown closer because of Eren and Levi was able to see all these new sides to her. Somehow her thoughtless joy made this all a little easier. Even so, his stomach was still curling.

Erwin, Farlan, and Isabel had run off to help Eren and Levi was left alone with his sister.

Her eyes fluttered open and she gripped her head, “What time is it?”

“About eleven thirty,” Levi checked his phone. “Feeling okay?”

“Mhn,” she groaned, eyeing the painkillers and glass of water on Levi’s desk. He grabbed them for her and let her take the pills in peace.

“Eren’s… planning something,” Levi explained. “The game isn’t going to be up and running for a few days now. He’s trying to find a way to make this convention work.”

“Of course he would…” Mikasa squinted, scanning through her memories. “When things go wrong, he doesn’t stop eating and exercise like a maniac like you do. He finds a way.” Her phone beeped and she glanced at the text, “Looks like we better go down there.”

“Will you be okay?”

“I’m fine,” she stood abruptly and took Levi’s hand, hauling him down to the convention hall. It was the last place he wanted to be, but she pulled him there with a relentless force.

They stepped through the huge double doors and found everyone was staring at the stage near the front of the room. A projector was flashing the trailer across the screen and everyone was silent. The room was dark, lit only by the light coming from the screen up front.

The trailer cut midway through, another glitch and Levi’s stomach dropped. Even his trailers couldn’t come out right. To his surprise, the video wasn’t over. A loud thumping noise came from the speakers and the face of the colossus titan peered at them through the darkness before roaring across the screen.

“A titan has broken through Wall Maria!” Eren announced over the speakers. Everyone was glancing around, trying to pinpoint his location when a spotlight shined up towards the ceiling. Eren swung down from the rafters attached to some kind of zip line apparatus, as if he were actually using the 3DMG gear Levi had created. The line ended at the stage where Eren landed somewhat gracefully. He slipped out of the harness and announced to the crowd with all the gusto in the world, “So, it’s time for Squad Levi to kill the titans!” Farlan and Isabel came flying across the ceiling next, followed shortly by Armin, Connie, Jean, Sasha, and Krista.

“We invite you to watch us play through the beginning of the game live for a first real glimpse of gameplay! Our playthrough will also be streamed live on YouTube and Twitch, so make sure to share those links with your pals that couldn’t be here today!” Eren finished, helping the stage crew pull up the chairs and pass around the wireless controllers. “The online gaming mode can support hundreds of players at a time fighting against the gigantic titans and, even possibly, with each other. We’re going to dive right in, but first I want to invite the creator, Levi Ackerman, up onto the stage!”

Levi kept a firm hold on Mikasa’s hand as he parted the crowd like the Red Sea, a distinct path clearing for him with an applauding audience on both sides. The two of them rushed up the stairs. Mikasa broke off and ran towards Sasha while Levi kept his eyes pinned on Eren, running until he crashed into him in a giant hug. “What’s going on?” he asked in a whisper.

Eren held the microphone far away from them as to not catch his voice in it, “You said you had a playable version at home, so I brought it and we’re all going to play it. It’s not what was planned, but it’ll work.”

“Eren, the playable version was meant for you,” Levi started stuttering, “I-I don’t think you want this whole crowd to see it.”

“Trust me,” Eren gave him a knowing smile, “I do.” He handed the microphone over to Levi and gestured for him to say something, anything.

Levi’s YouTuber persona had shrunk down and died, all he wanted to do was hug and kiss Eren and thank him somehow for saving the day. He very well couldn’t keep on clinging to him on stage, so he took the microphone and waved to the crowd, “Thanks for coming out. This game was specially designed for Eren, so I hope you enjoy watching the special features installed. Shall we get going, then?”

“Yes sir!” the entirety of squad Levi did the telltale salute and settled into the chairs pulled out. They had a separate screen at their eyelevel and screen-shared with the projector so the audience could watch too. The audience started to get comfortable sitting on the floor, all of them starry-eyed and watching with anticipation. Sure, not all of them looked blindingly excited but it was better than turning down an entire ballroom of guests a chance to get their live sneak peek of the game.

Levi took a chair next to Eren and waited patiently as the introduction played through, a sequence he’d seen millions of times now. He watched the faces of Eren and his friends, all of them smiling with their eyes glued to the screen.

And then the short clip before the main menu played, the sequence of text Levi had put together specifically for Eren and his heart was pumping fast. Perhaps he wasn’t the most romantic guy in the world and Eren could obviously do better, but he felt it was necessary to give Eren something special- something only Levi could create.

_Eren, welcome to your personal copy of Attack on Titan. Since we’d met, you’ve been consistently surprising me so let me take this chance to surprise you. Enjoy the game and try not to get yourself killed too often. Oh, and by the way, I love you._

The few seconds it took everyone to read the short, awkward bit of text threatened to give him a heart attack. He could care less about everyone else’s reactions, he was focused on Eren.  What would Eren think? What would he say? What would he do? Was it too much? Too dorky? Levi wanted to smack himself as well as his insecurities in the face, because Eren would never let him down.

Eren dropped his controller and ran over to him, dramatically hugging onto him like when Levi had first come onto the stage. Eren grabbed his face and kissed him hard, his breath completely out of control. With their bodies pressed close together, Levi could feel Eren’s rapid heartbeat.

“I love you too,” Eren returned, his breathy voice coming in through the microphone they’d clipped on his shirt. They got a few short moments to bask in the glow of a sappy confession before Eren had to break away and resume the convention event.

Levi sat smirking while he watched everyone enjoy his creation. He’d preprogrammed a few customized characters already, ones that looked exactly like Eren and his friends. Isabel and Farlan helped commentating while ‘Squad Levi’, as they’d dubbed themselves, combined their skills to play through the first bit of the game.

In Eren’s version, the NPC squad captain was designed after Levi himself. He zipped past with a skill level higher than the beginners and assisted anyone near death by slicing down the targeted titan. Another unique feature was the chosen character special skills, something everyone playing eventually found out and used to their advantage.

“Eren coming in from the left, Mikasa from the right! Combo move by the two, moving in fast! And! BAM! Another titan killed by Eren and Mikasa! They’re on a roll!” Isabel jumped up and down, giving a play by play as if they were at a sports game.

“Sasha utilizing that bow and arrow, blinding the two ten meters from the right,” Farlan added, “Excellent strategy, I’m impressed! Now Jean and Connie coming in to break the knees! Couldn’t have played it better myself.”

After the first twenty minutes, they found a good stopping place and thanked everyone for watching. The convention resumed with a question and answer session with the voice actors as well as Levi, though his eyes were on Eren the entire time. None of this would have been possible without him and he’d be sure to get the whole story on how it all came together once they got home. Until then, he was more than happy to fully enjoy the moment finally with no stress or pressures attached.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading <3 I appreciate all the support you have all given me during this story! 
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	22. Convention 6.5

“I’m here today with Eren aka HumanitysHope! We’ve been at SurveyCon all week and we’ve finally gotten a break!” Krista announced to the camera with her arm around Eren, smiling cheekily. “So Eren has agreed to do a makeup tutorial with me!”

Eren waved to the camera and delivered his own (hopefully) charming smile. “Krista promised to make me look gorgeous. We also wanted to let everyone out there know, no matter who you are, if you enjoy makeup you should feel free to wear it. I’m not sure why people don’t think men should wear makeup, I’m excited! It’s like an art project on my face!”

“Exactly!” Krista beamed, giving Eren a pat on the shoulder. “And it’s important to know that makeup looks for men can differ from those of women. We have different facial structures and can use some different tricks to bring out your best features!”

“What kind of look are you going to go for? Are you going to make me a sultry minx?” Eren wiggled his eyebrows at her.

“I don’t think Levi would appreciate that,” she winked. “I actually thought we could do a look inspired by this!” She brought out one of the emerald scouting regiment capes and draped it around Eren’s shoulders. “The green looks good on you. I’m dubbing this look _Eren’s Wings of Freedom._ ”

“Oh!” Eren got really excited about the dramatic name and bounced a little in his seat. “Okay, let’s get started then.”

She blotted on foundation and contoured Eren’s face, all the while he had to resist giggling at the ticklish brushes and gushing about how skilled Krista was. He’d never worn makeup before, but wasn’t averse to it whatsoever. In fact, he couldn’t wait to see how it all turned out.

“Alright, let’s get some eyeshadow on you. This first one is called _Foxy_ , I think it suits you,” Krista teased.

“You think?” Eren blinked up at her with a huge grin. He faked a growl and she giggled at him, “Okay, so we’re going to put this along your brow bone and a little in the corners for some light. Next, we’ll throw on some _Bless Her Heart_ , which smells like peaches!”

“Seriously?!” Eren got overexcited and bent down to smell, overestimated the distance, and ended up with a blot of peachy pink eyeshadow on his nose. “Oops,” he pulled away and looked at the viewfinder of the camera, laughing at his colored nose.

“And that, folks, is how to really powder your nose,” Krista laughed, carefully wiping him clean.

“It really does smell good, though,” Eren beamed while Krista put some of the green on.

“Next is this deep sparkly blue, _Talk Derby to Me_ ,” Krista grabbed a new brush to put on the new color.

Eren threw on his best horse-race announcer voice, “Here comes Astro Boy coming in in second, but wait! He takes the first and wins the grand championship!”

“You’d name your horse Astro Boy?” Krista asked, finishing up the eyeshadow.

“Who wouldn’t?” Eren batted his eyelashes. “What’s next?”

“Eyeliner,” Krista brought out a black pen with a brush on the end. “The scariest part.”

“Really?”

She hummed and pushed his chin up, “Just tilt your head back, let your eyes fall shut naturally, and it’ll look great. I’m going to give you some big ass wings.”

“I’m going to sexy as hell,” Eren let Krista work her magic. “My wings will bring all the boys to the yard,” he sang softly.

“Top them off with some fake eyelashes and you’ll blow everyone away,” Krista agreed, swishing on some mascara and grabbing out the fake eyelashes. “Or they’ll be blowing you… I mean…”

“I didn’t realize this was a _dirty_ makeup video!” Eren laughed at Krista’s joke. She always seemed so innocent, it was hard remembering she didn’t hold anything in during her videos. “I’m doing my best not to look, I want it to be a surprise,” Eren kept his eyes averted from the viewfinder. “But it’s so hard! I’m so curious!”

“It’s amazing so far, you’re a great model,” Krista assured, blowing on the lashes before setting them carefully on Eren’s eyelids, pressing them into place with a delicate pressure. “Does this mean you’re going to invite me onto your channel for a video game video?”

“Hell yeah, what kind of games do you like?”

She snorted, “We should play the daddy dating simulator.”

“That’s been on my Tumblr feed for _weeks_ , what is it?” Eren exploded with enthusiasm.

“Or the pigeon dating simulator,” she added with another laugh.

“There’s a _pigeon_ one?”

“There’s even a _horse_ one!”

“And I was wasting all my time sticking with the samurai ones…” Eren joked, though he had run through a few Otome games in the past as a guilty pleasure. “I have a feeling you’re scarily good at Wii tennis and DDR.”

“You’re correct! I’d cream you at both! But I’m the _best_ at Skyrim.”

“No way! Dragon slayer Krista!” Eren tried not to move his face around too much as she put on the finishing touches.

She took a step back for the final reveal, using her camera to get beautiful close-up angles and panning shots before finally letting Eren see the finished product. His entire face brightened up at the sight, amazed at the pinks, greens, and even a little navy thrown onto his eyes. His face looked weirdly perfect and he had to stare for a few seconds to recognize himself. “Holy shit, Krista, this is so cool!”

“You’re a great model, you better let me do this again sometime! You could bring Levi and Mikasa too, we’ll do a set of three different looks!” She set all her tools aside and plucked a new object from her makeup bag and set it gracefully in Eren’s hair. He looked into the mirror nearby to see the emerald green bow pinned above his ear. “It’s complete! You’re officially the cutest Survey Corps member, aside from Ymir, of course. Though, she _is_ a goddess so it’s hard to beat her.”

They wrapped up the video with Krista’s usual ending speech and she started getting out her makeup remover. Eren stopped her and stood, “Nah, I think I’ll wear this out. Is that okay?”

“Seriously?” Krista smiled wide.

“Yeah, why not?” Eren grinned back, securing his scouting regiment cape around his shoulders. “Anyway, want to head back down? I think everyone’s getting together since tomorrow’s the last day of the convention.”

She nodded, grabbed her hotel key, and followed him out. It seemed no one bothered to change out of their Attack on Titan uniforms. In all reality, they were really comfortable and looked cool as hell.

“Promise you’ll collab with me soon so we can put our videos up at the same time?” Eren asked while in the elevator.

“Totally,” she giggled, “I’ll whip your butt at Mario Cart or something. It’ll be great. Turn it into a drinking game or something.”

Eren snapped his fingers, “You’re brilliant. It’s happening.”

“It’s sort of great, isn’t it? Living by all of us? Before it always seemed like you were so far away! Collab pieces took months to plan!” Krista gushed. “I’m so happy you’re here!”

“Me too,” Eren had to agree with the most genuine smile.

“And that stunt you pulled today? Priceless.” She nudged him on the arm, “You really saved the day.”

Eren shrugged, “It just made sense. I’m itching to play the entire story mode when we get back.”

“What will we do tomorrow, then?”

Eren scratched his chin, “I have no idea. As fun as today was, I’m not sure doing the same thing over again will go over well.”

The elevator doors opened and Eren found himself face to face with Erwin Smith, Levi’s boss. It was odd, it was as if he were expecting Eren right then and there even though he’d have no way of knowing his true whereabouts. “Eren Jaeger, you’re looking nice today,” Erwin greeted him with a charming smile. “Mind if we have a little chat?”

Krista gave Eren a smile, nod, and wave before heading off towards the convention hall. Erwin led the way, escorting them towards the main atrium of the building. The large windows let in the sight of the setting sun and it made the entryway look even more beautiful. Erwin took a seat on one of the couches and Eren sat next to him, leaving a healthy distance in between.

It was intimidating, sitting right next to someone who helped create tons of Eren’s favorite video games. Erwin also seemed rather close with Levi, which added a few more nerves. Finally, it was startling sitting next to someone who didn’t even look real. Erwin’s blond hair, blue eyes, and dazzling smile seemed too perfect to be true. He looked like a real-life Captain America.

“I wanted to let you know how impressed I was with you today,” Erwin started, “You really saved our asses and I believe in giving credit where credit is due.”

All the nervousness in Eren’s belly melted away at the compliment. It was startling, but completely bona fide. “Oh, thanks,” he managed to reply lamely.

“It was a great surprise and relief, beautiful showmanship by the way. All in just over an hour? I almost think you’d planned for this all along,” he laughed. “Even so, I was wondering if you’d be interested in working with us here at Survey Corps. I understand your situation here is still in the works, but I’d love to personally create a position for you here. We need more people like you here.”

Eren’s eyes went wide, “Wait, are you serious?”

Erwin nodded, “As serious as I can be. And I promise, Levi didn’t put me up to this or anything. I figured it’d be best if he didn’t know so you can make the decision yourself. I’ll let you think about it, so let me know when you’ve got your mind made up. Here’s my number…” Erwin passed Eren a business card with all his contact information on it. “Let me know as soon as you can.”

Erwin got up before letting Eren reply, probably to force him into seriously thinking about the decision. Still, Eren’s mind seemed settled already: _yes_. His dreams were coming true one by one and he seriously wondered if he was dreaming.

Instead of leaping out of his seat and bolting into the convention hall to break the news to his friends, he decided to take a moment to breathe and let his heart relax into a normal rhythm again. He grabbed is phone and scrolled through comments and tweets and tried to ignore the obvious downers.

_Spent all my money on Survey Con just to get ripped off. Where’s the Attack on Titan demo we were promised?_

_Attack on Titan isn’t working? Called it._

He stopped reading when the comments got even more critical. Okay, it wasn’t exactly a dream but it was what he signed up for. On the bright side, it seemed the good outweighed the bad.

After tucking his phone away, he headed back to the main hall where everyone was gathered. He found Mikasa and Levi on either side of a ping pong table someone had brought in, facing each other off in a heated match. Sasha stood behind Mikasa, openly cheering for ‘the most beautiful woman in the world’. Mikasa scored against Levi and Sasha gave her a hug, sloppy kiss on the cheek as a victory prize. The pair looked recovered from the previous night and happy as ever.

He looked to Levi and couldn’t wait to tell him the news. But then the realization hit him like a terrible epiphany. A job with Survey Corps meant more than just working with people he’d admired for years. It wasn’t just a new title, a new game to play. It was securing him down, an added responsibility, and less time for filming. It meant definitely staying with Levi and Mikasa for an indefinite amount of time until he saved up enough to move out, if he needed to. It meant possibly working alongside Levi. It brought forth a new plethora of possibilities, both good and terrible.

The words never came out and he refrained from telling Levi. He’d keep the idea safe in the back of his head until he knew the right answer.

When they got back to the apartment, Mikasa set out to make a healthy dinner for all of them. They’d been invited to go out to the bars, but declined in favor of getting some sleep. Levi and Mikasa definitely needed it.

Levi offered to help Mikasa cook, which left Eren with some free time. Without even thinking, he popped in his personal copy of Attack on Titan into the gaming system and grabbed a controller.

“Are you not sick of that game yet?” Mikasa asked, “You haven’t even changed yet.”

“Shh,” Eren hushed her as the beginning started up, an epic sequence he knew he’d never skip. Every once in a while, he’d find an introduction he didn’t button-smash through and this one fit the bill. “I want to play through the story mode.”

“It’s ten at night, I don’t think you’re going to finish the story mode,” Levi informed him with a smile.

“No, but I can at least start it…” Eren was hooked once his new game file loaded, beginning the game.

“This already looks nothing like the official game,” Mikasa bent over the counter to get a full view. “Oh, look, there’s me! And… Armin?”

“Oh, fuck,” Eren sighed.

“What?” Levi bent over the counter too, curious as to what Eren was referring to.

“I shouldn’t have started this. I’m going to want to finish it all in one go now. I won’t be able to put it down!” Eren exclaimed with his eyes fixed on the screen.

Levi plopped down on the couch next to him, pulling a blanket over them both. Mikasa sat on his other side, handing out the three plates of food.

Eren struggled to eat and play, Mikasa ended up spoon feeding him after she’d finished her own meal just so he’d get it finished before it got cold.

“Holy shit, Mikasa, you’re sort of a badass in this game,” Eren commented, “Holy shit, am I getting eaten by Santa? Shit, shit, _shit_.”

Levi plucked the controller out of his hand just as big, naked Santa swallowed Eren whole. “And that’s where we’ll stop tonight,” he cruelly announced, shutting down the system.

“ _What_?” Eren whined, throwing his hands up in the air. “So, I didn’t lose? There’s still more?”

“Much more,” Levi promised, yawning and heading towards the bathroom.

In a rift of excitement and frustration with the cliff-hanging end to his gameplay for the night, he got ready for bed as well. He’d need his sleep for the last day of the convention and whatever surprises it had in store for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your support! <3 I am so grateful for all of you!
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	23. Convention 7.0

Luckily, Eren fell asleep the second his head hit the pillow. Meanwhile, Levi tossed and turned before deciding to get up, grab his laptop, and fall back onto the couch. He’d been wrestling with the game whenever he could, never getting more than twenty minutes to dive into the problem itself. At least in the quiet hours of the night, he could with peacefully and with no distractions.

Unfortunately, his friends knew him too well. His phone vibrated a half hour into working.

 **Farlan [1:45am]:** _I swear if you’re working on that game, I will come over and chain you to the bed._

 **Levi [1:48am]:** _I don’t think Eren would appreciate that._

 **Farlan [1:49am]:** _Actually, I think he would._

 **Levi [1:50am]:** _Pervert._

 **Farlan [1:50am]:** _Workaholic. At least wait until the convention is over._

 **Levi [1:52am]:** _I can at least get the first fifteen minutes of gameplay working, that’s all we need for a demo._

 **Farlan [1:53am]:** _If you could pull that off without going insane from sleep deprivation, I’d be surprised. Go to bed._

 **Levi [1:53am]:** _Fine._

It was a lie, of course, but it’d get Farlan off his back. Still, it was a little endearing that he always seemed to be there when everything wasn’t going according to plan. He knew Levi rarely rested when things weren’t going his way, and he probably knew Levi wouldn’t do anything other than focusing on the game until dawn. He would have skipped dinner if Mikasa and Eren weren’t around to scold him for it.

He wasn’t hungry, he wasn’t tired, and he wasn’t ready to give up just yet. All he wanted to do was pour all the energy he had left into the game. He’d prove everyone who doubted him wrong. He’d prove his co-workers wrong. He’d prove himself wrong. It wouldn’t be another sad story added to his personal library and it wouldn’t be another defeat.

He mapped out everything from the glitches in the game itself to the hardware at Survey Corps. He planned for every little slip and issue, jotting down what he needed to happen and when. He sent emails his co-workers would receive in the morning with instructions. He brought out ten memory sticks and ran every single file sharing software he had in his artillery. It was a one-man operation and he set his mind to finishing out strong, even if he collapsed on the floor of the stage that next day due to exhaustion. It wouldn’t matter because the game would work and everything would be okay.

And Eren would be grinning, more than excited to share the demo with his friends and fans. That image alone drove him forth. He’d never wanted to impress someone so badly before, it seemed the tables had turned. Eren had started out awkwardly star struck, doing his best to not slip up or make a fool out of himself. Now, Levi felt the same. He wanted to do anything he could to make that boy’s eyes sparkle.

He didn’t realize it when he started to sweat and his fingers started to ache. His eyes felt dry and attempted to fall shut, his body falling lax for just a second before he jolted back awake and resumed typing. At one point, he got up to get a glass of water to help keep him going.

A dim glow started to fill the apartment and Levi took a moment to watch the sun rise. Had time really passed by so quickly? He felt like he’d hardly gotten anything done. _Well,_ he figured _, I didn’t plan on getting much sleep anyway._ His work continued until a creaking door caught his attention.

“You’re… awake?” Eren yawned, leaning over the back of the couch to peer over Levi’s shoulder. “Working?”

Levi hummed in affirmation, turning slightly until his cheek met Eren’s lips. Big, warm arms came falling around him in a much-needed embrace as Eren hugged him from behind.

“I missed you last night,” Eren mumbled into his neck.

“You inspired me to keep trying,” Levi spoke honestly, “So I did. Now we have fifteen playable minutes and the Survey Corps team should be setting up for it now.”

“Seriously?” Eren pulled away to get a good look at Levi’s face.

“Seriously,” Levi could happily confirm, shutting his laptop up for the morning. “It’s not what we’d planned for, but it’s something. This version is based off of the one I made for you, taking out the sappy bits and pieces to make it playable without gagging.”

Eren snorted, “I like my version. You… made it for me. That had to take a while… So… Thank you.” He struggled to find the right words, but got there in the end. Eren could have said anything and Levi would have noticed the gratefulness in his tone and his heart would swell all the same. At times like this, the awkward, shy version of Eren shined through and Levi almost wanted to make him blush even more just to prolong the experience.

Instead of muttering some kind of ‘you’re welcome’, Levi kissed Eren and did his best to ignore his boyfriend’s morning breath. After a long night without sleep, Levi guessed his own mouth wasn’t that delightful either but the kiss was still nice and pleasant as always.

The two got into the bathroom together and did their morning routines side by side, brushing their teeth and turning the shower on to start heating up the water. “Want to shower together?” Eren suggested. “It’ll save time  _and_ water.”

With lack of time to fool around, the shower ended up being fairly innocent with a healthy amount of groping to satisfy them both for the moment. The convention put a strain on the beginning of their relationship, keeping them close yet somehow far away. Levi just wanted to treat Eren on a normal date, not one with hundreds of people watching them at all times. He’d done his best to give Eren whatever romance was left in his cavernous soul and found it a lot easier than he’d previously thought. Still, with the convention out of the way there was sure to be more time for the two of them to finally take things slow and steady.

While waiting for Mikasa to get ready, Levi helped Eren snap into the leather strap apparatus. Eren asked with a laugh, “I swear, did this leather strap idea sprout from some kind of bondage kink you haven’t told me about?”

Levi looked at him, holding a dead-serious expression, “Yes.” Eren’ face grew beet red before Levi broke his poker face and let out a little chuckle, “No, dummy, the idea came from keeping all this shit on your body while flying around.”

“I’m going to tell everyone it was because of your bondage kink,” Eren stuck his tongue out, pulling one of the leather straps out and letting it smack back onto his torso. “It can be in one of my videos. I’ll name it _Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Attack on Titan._ ”

“What are the other nine things then?”

Eren didn’t waste a second thinking, he seemed to have already had the ideas mapped out in his brain. “Two, the titans were based off of creator Levi Ackerman’s fetish with Godzilla and people without skin.”

“Is this entire video dedicated to kink-shaming me?”

“Yes,” Eren firmly replied, grinning.

“Are you guys ready?” Mikasa was hopping across the floor getting her boot on.

“Looks like I’ll have to hear the other eight later,” Levi ruffled Eren’s hair so they could all take off towards Survey Corps.

 

Levi took a breath of relief when he saw the hall arranged and decorated as he’d described in his email. There were tons of different stations with huge monitors set up with all sorts of chairs and couches set up around them. People had already gathered to sit at the different sections with their friends, Eren was quickly waved over to join his own group at a station near the front. Mikasa followed him too and Levi chose to wander around to observe.

All the monitors had the main menu frozen on the screen, just waiting to be played. YouTubers were dressed in their uniforms for the final day, dotting around the room with friends and fans. Survey Corps employees were racing around with controllers, wires, batteries, and anything else that needed to be transferred from station to station.

“Levi!” Isabel came running up behind him, throwing herself onto him in order to hug him from behind and knock the wind out of him at the same time. “You did it! Oh my god, how did you do it?”

“I took it all from the game I made Eren and tweaked it. It’s not an exact repeat of the software we’re going to put out, but it’s close enough.”

“Genius!” she laughed, “That’s amazing!”

“I honestly forgot all about his version until he brought it here to show everyone…”

“You’re such a closet romantic. Come on, we’re all sitting up front.” Isabel pulled him to the station beside Eren and Mikasa’s where Farlan, Hange, and Erwin sat.

“I’m _ready_ to _play_!” Hange rose their hands up and grinned. “There better be more text confessing Levi’s attraction to Eren.”

“I was hoping for a romantic scene where Levi saves him from a titan,” Erwin added with a smirk.

“Or an arc when Eren gets kidnapped and Levi has to go retrieve him,” Farlan chuckled.

Levi could hardly rest despite him not getting any sleep the night before. His eyes continued to scan the area, watching smiling faces and searching for any disappointment.

The voice actor of the head training commandant walked up on stage with furrowed brows and his lips in a tightened line. Not only was he a brilliant voice actor, but he could put on a show as well and even shaved his head to look the part. He started screaming into the microphone, “Are you ready to prove yourselves, soldiers!?”

A cheer from the crowd responded to his question.

He grabbed one of the fake swords and raised it up high, “You’ll either learn fast or become titan food, it’s up to you! Are you prepared to fight?”

Another cheer, louder this time, rang through the hall.

“That’s what I like to hear! Okay, recruits! Let’s see what you’ve got!”

With that, the main menu screens blinked off the frozen mode and everyone started mashing buttons in anticipation to begin. One person from the group played through the story mode while the others watched or switched off. It wasn’t a perfect method, but it worked. A lot of times, a YouTuber would sit with a bunch of fans and play through while chatting.

Levi watched his friends start, passing the controller to a few of their fans that were brave enough to join them. He could hear Eren laughing from a few feet away. There was so much _happiness_ in the room, Levi was almost overwhelmed. He’d anticipated the worst and ended up with a situation that wasn’t bad at all. After so much work, it was hard to finally accept that it hadn’t been a complete disaster and people were actually enjoying themselves.

Comments from the character customization, the story line, the background images, and the game play were roaring around the room. Levi couldn’t help but look at his friends around him and offer up a real, genuine smile. “Thank you, guys,” he let out, knowing those three words would never be enough to express his true gratitude. They made his dreams possible and even helped make them come true.

Erwin ruffled his hair and Hange bent over to kiss his cheek. “Aw, we’d do anything for you, Captain Levi!” they cooed.

Everyone went through the game, everyone taking their own amount of time getting through it all. Before long, people were lazing around and chatting. Someone had lunch catered in so a lot of people took off towards the other room where they had round tables set up to eat. Apparently, there were some contests for merchandise and some other games to take part in but Levi had a hard time paying attention to the little details now that his own big event was finally over.

“You did good,” Erwin patted him on the back as they got up from their spot. “Really good, Levi. If this game sells, I want you here permanently.”

“Permanently?” Levi had to question.

“You’re good at this. You weave stories that compel people, that are new and interesting. I know we haven’t been getting the best media attention for this, which I apologize for, but everyone who takes part seems to really enjoy it. I think you should work for us as a game designer.”

“I’m not sure I could do that and YouTube at the same time… I’ll have to think about it,” Levi decided quickly.

“I understand it’d be quite a career shift. We’d want you to attend classes for game design and software engineering as well, to better hone your skills. Even so, you’d be well compensated for your efforts. Think about it.”

Levi nodded, heading off towards Eren and Mikasa who were chatting with some fans. They hadn’t noticed him come up from behind them, so he ended up accidentally eavesdropping.

“Isabel and Farlan were talking about inviting me to their channel sometime, so I’d probably look into doing that next!” Eren answered one of them, probably asking about his future videos. “Individually, I got permission to play through Attack on Titan which is what I’m most excited about.”

“Because Levi made it?” one of them raised an eyebrow, smiling.

“Well, yeah,” Eren scratched the back of his neck, “But also because it’s actually a really cool game. It’s nice not having another new game where it’s war, aliens, or robots. The weaponry is really unique as well, using the 3DMG to swoop around the cities while also having to pinpoint the exact area to attack your enemy. There are a lot of really strong male _and_ female characters, too. Yeah, it’s cool that Levi made it and it doesn’t surprise me that he did such a good job. But… I really like it for what it is, too. If I didn’t know he made it, I still would have been obsessing over it.”

Levi couldn’t help but step up and hug Eren from behind. Eren’s words pushed him forward, almost forcing him into it. The comment wasn’t empty or put on whatsoever, it had a truth that only Eren seemed to be able to project. So many people told him about how excited they were and how great it was, but for some reason Eren’s comment settled in Levi’s heart and gave him the validation he’d been searching for.

“Oh, hey Levi,” Eren spun around with a big, dopey grin on his face.

Levi stepped up on his tip toes and kissed Eren hard on the lips. He then fell back to his feet and took a step back while Eren was looking at him with the most confused and elated expression. “Ready to eat?” Levi asked nonchalantly as ever.

“Uh, well, uh, yes,” Eren stuttered out, still smiling like a fool.

The fans were giggling and Mikasa just pushed them forward towards the other room. “You two are going to make me gag,” she pinched both of them on the arms.

“In a good way?” Eren asked with a bit of hope in his tone.

“Yeah, in a good way,” Mikasa smiled at both of them as they joined their friends for the rest of their last day of the convention.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading, cheers to the end of the convention!! <3 
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	24. A New Day

“It’s one in the afternoon,” Levi mumbled, glaring at the brightness of his phone. They’d drawn the heavy curtains, turned all the lights off, and took a much-needed hibernation after the long week. Even though it flew by at the blink of an eye, their bodies were exhausted.

Eren murmured some kind of noise, pushing the phone out of Levi’s hand and letting it tumble back onto the end table. He wasn’t ready to leave their sanctuary and face reality. There were too many decisions, feelings, and discussions that needed to occur. It would be complicated and possibly awkward, but he knew it all waited just outside the bedroom door.

“You need sleep,” Eren curled an arm around Levi to pull him in closer. “You haven’t slept much all week. Go back to bed.”

“Unlike you, I can’t laze around all day,” Levi started to pull himself from Levi’s grasp, sitting up in bed.

Eren yanked him right back down, “Five more minutes, please?”

“Five more minutes,” Levi agreed, letting Eren tangle up their limbs once more. “Then we have to get up. I’ve got work to do.”

“Are you going to Survey Corps today?” Eren wanted to groan. The last thing he wanted to do was spend the day apart. It was a selfish thought, but he never felt like he got enough time with Levi. He could spend days on end with him and never feel like it was enough. That was the problem with Levi, even just his presence was like a drug.

“No, I need to maintain my channel. Probably put together a compilation of the convention, add a sappy heart-to-heart monologue at the end.”

“I’m looking forward to that monologue.”

“Excited to see me spill my guts to the internet?”

“Always. Your coming out video made me cry.”

“Seriously?”

“I think it made most people cry, Levi.”

“I just got sick of people asking about it.”

“Sure, you did,” Eren gave him a playful nudge. “You _just so happened_ to post it two days after mine.”

Levi rolled his eyes, “Coincidence.”

“Was it?”

He paused and stared up dat the ceiling with a small smile, “Mikasa told me about yours and said how moving it was for her. I watched it and figured I could make my own too.”

“So, you _did_ copy me!” Eren beamed, snuggling into Levi’s chest.

“I may have,” Levi trailed his fingers along Eren’s back, bringing shivers and tingles up his spine. “You started a trend.”

Eren smiled against Levi’s skin and stared at the bedroom door where their lives awaited. “I have to edit my vlogs all day and get those uploaded. But I’d much rather finish your game. I want to see how it ends.”

“I think you’ll be pleased,” Levi mused, sitting up once more. This time Eren couldn’t pull him back down fast enough, so instead he watched as Levi got ready for the day. He pulled on some black joggers and one of Eren’s shirts that had been thrown on the floor. It was a little big on him which had Eren’s heart racing. Really, Levi was too cute for his own good. While he put on his serious, uncaring attitude there was still a very soft and adorable side to him as well that Eren wanted to see more of. He expected it’d come out in little specs throughout the day, like just before waking or simply making breakfast. Eren took a mental photo of it all, wanting to keep it secretly for himself.

Eren followed suit in getting dressed for the day, sticking with the most comfortable outfit he could manage. He grabbed his laptop from Levi’s desk and headed out to the living room to make himself a nest of the couch. Two pillows and a blanket later, and he was ready to get to work.

Levi brought him some much-needed coffee before returning to his desk in the bedroom. Apparently, Eren would be ‘too distracting’ for Levi to get anything done, so they decided to stay apart for a few hours for productivity’s sake.

Mikasa came in through the front door with her headphones still in and her running gear on. She was sweating like crazy and panting, momentarily stopping to lean against the counter before heading straight for the shower. She gave Eren a little wave but seemed too out of breath to get any words out.

Eren ran through the vlog material, wanting to give Mikasa the biggest hug for getting it all on film for him. There was footage of his question and answer session, every single interaction with his fans as they waited in line, shots of the convention hall every day, and his big stunt when introducing Attack on Titan. He replayed every little interaction he had with Levi, every kiss or subtle touch. It was indulgent but he could still hardly believe it all was real.

Eren shifted in his nest and realized something was poking him in the side. He reached into his pocket and pulled out Erwin Smith’s business card. _Oh, right. The job._

He stared between his subscriber count and the card. Surely taking the job would mean that his YouTube career would take a hit as he wouldn’t have enough to time to keep up with both. Levi could barely upload a video every month and sometimes it would even take several months just to get out a seven-minute video discussing a new game or a quick play-through.

Did Eren want to cling to his career as a YouTuber? He asked himself that a million times. The job offer from Erwin was so tempting, he couldn’t just let it go. He had questions, ideas, and excitement for the new job but also felt bittersweet about leaving his channel on the backburner.

He tossed his head back and groaned to himself. Why did adult life have to be so difficult? Why did he have to make difficult choices like this? It was like torture trying to pick between two things he knew would make him happy and as much as he wanted both, he knew for a fact it wouldn’t be possible.

A part of him wanted to talk to Levi or Mikasa about it, but something stopped him. Accepting a job at Survey Corps meant that he was in the city to stay long-term. He and Levi danced around the idea of ‘long-term’ but Eren was smart enough to know they were still at the beginning of their relationship. Too many unknowns were circling them and he didn’t want to trap himself into a bad situation.

Then again, he could always go back home. He could always return to YouTube with fresh ideas and motivation. Or he’d fall in love with his new job at Survey Corps and never look back. He picked at his fingernails in indecision.

 _It wouldn’t hurt to talk to him about it,_ Eren decided. He got up from his seat and slipped out onto the balcony for some privacy.

When he dialed Erwin’s number, Erwin answered on the second ring, “Erwin Smith.”

“Hi, Erwin, it’s Eren. Jaeger. From the convention.”

“Eren! It’s good to hear from you. Give any thought to my offer?”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking a lot about it. I wanted to ask about what the job entailed?” Eren hoped Erwin would give him an answer that would make the decision easy. _Tell me it’s a bunch of boring paperwork. Tell me it’s getting coffee for the executive staff. Tell me it’s sorting the recyclables._

“Basically, I want you to be a representative that links together YouTubers and the gaming division of Survey Corps. There’s a lot of talent out there and we’d love to launch a new project that creates a united community. You’ll be the face of our YouTube channel and will be inviting guests to participate in our upcoming and existing games.”

 _Oh, fuck that sounds so fucking cool._ Eren looked up at the sky, as if asking for some kind of sign.

Eren’s silence spurred Erwin to speak once more, “If you’re still on the fence, you’re free to continue thinking about it. I don’t want to push you into anything.”

“Right, yeah. I’ll need a little longer to think about it, if that’s okay,” Eren hurriedly spoke.

“That’s just fine, Eren. We’ll keep in touch.”

Eren hung up and returned inside to his laptop, looking over footage and taking out the best clips. He spent at least three hours watching himself meet with every single fan, tearing up a little bit at just how many people came to see him. It was strange, but he was starting to feel like someone worth something. He was no longer a kid living in the middle of nowhere with no friends, locked up in his bedroom watching videos all night long. He was no longer a failure of a son or a loser. He was HumanitysHope and always would be.

“You okay?” Mikasa came out of the bathroom with a towel around her neck, wearing one of Levi’s old t-shirts and some sweatpants. “Are you crying?”

Eren shook his head, “I’m fine.”

She sat on the couch next to him, realizing he was watching over the convention footage and smiled. “All those people were really happy to see you. Look at this one,” she pointed to the next video file.

Mikasa approached several people in line, asking if they had a message for Eren.

_“HumanitysHope! My hero! I watch your videos all the time!”_

_“For some reason, your voice always calms me down. I love you so much!”_

_“Because of you, I finally found a group of friends at school. Thank you, Eren.”_

_“I showed your coming out video to my parents before coming out myself. I think it really made a difference, they were actually proud of me!”_

_“I laugh every time I watch your Animal Crossing videos. It’s so relaxing and funny all at the same time!”_

_“You take the time to reply to so many comments and tweets, it’s so sweet! You’re genuinely kind and thoughtful, it makes me so happy to know there are people like you in this world!”_

_“I hope you know how much we all love you. Thank you for everything, HumanitysHope.”_

Eren was crying all over again and Mikasa put her arm around him, pulling him close. “You’re amazing, Eren. I’m so glad you came.”

“Me too,” Eren returned, wiping his tears away. “I think I’ve got a video to make.”

 

Eren set up the camera in the beautiful lighting with some of the houseplants behind him, making the setting bright, cheerful, and new. He took a deep breath in front of the camera, readjusting his pastel #squadjaeger shirt and combing his fingers through his hair. He didn’t normally put much thought into his appearance when making videos, aiming for the more comfortable setting. This was different, however. This video had to be special and he wanted to do it right.

“Hey guys, it’s nice to finally be making a real video again. I feel like it’s been forever. I’ve promised myself that this video will be purely raw, no editing or anything. Geez, I’m making myself nervous. Hopefully I don’t say anything stupid…” he paused and took another deep breath. He didn’t write out a script or rehearse any lines. He wanted it all to come out straight from the heart.

“I’m posting my vlogs from the convention soon and while I was looking over the footage, I realized how grateful I am for every single one of you. I was really, really unhappy a few years ago. I sucked at school, I didn’t have many friends, and I never felt like I fit in—even with my own family. Life was… it was just really hard and sometimes, I wondered why I was even trying anymore.”

Another deep breath to collect his thoughts and blink away the threat of oncoming tears.

“But then I found YouTube and I took a chance. I posted a lousy video and waited anxiously for the hit counter to reach one. It was terrifying. Putting yourself out there, in any form, is terrifying. Whether you’re an artist, a writer, a YouTuber… waiting for someone else’s reaction to your creation can be the most difficult thing. But, in just an hour, I got that first view.”

Eren barked out a laughter, “And in the first day, I got a comment. And you know what it said? I’m pretty sure they said it was a really stupid video, something along those lines. I was bummed out for a few days after that, but then I got a second comment and a third. And pretty soon, the positives outweighed the negatives and I made a second video. From there, I just found a lot of fulfillment and fun in making them and connecting with other YouTubers like Mikasa and Armin. Just like that, I had friends and we could talk every day.”

Eren glanced up and saw Mikasa and Levi standing in front of him quietly. He ignored them and kept going, “So I kept at it and all of a sudden, you guys were right there with me. You were with me through all the stupid videos I did on a whim and all the ups and downs in my life. You were there when I got to do my first collaborations and when I decided to do this full-time. I can’t express my gratitude enough.”

“And now, I seriously can’t believe it. I got to meet the person I looked up to the most during this whole career and look like a dumbass in front of him a thousand times until he finally fell for me. I got to live with my best friend and drag her with me through the whole convention. I got to spend time with the people I’ve been talking to online with for years and meet all of you,” Eren wiped away a single tear that rolled down his flushed cheek. “And now I hope you’ll stick with me through this new chapter of my life and career, whatever lies up ahead. I hope I can continue to make you smile and be there for you like a friend. I hope I can give you a fraction of what you’ve all given me. Because what you’ve given to me is the one thing I’ve always needed the most: hope. Thank you all, I love you, and I’ll see you next time.”

Eren leaned forward to turn the camera off and took a second to collect himself once more. He looked up to see Mikasa’s watery eyes and Levi’s blushing cheeks. Both of them came around to hug him tightly and he truly felt like was finally home.

He’d made his decision and didn’t plan on looking back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thank you all so much for reading and for your support. I am on the fence about finishing this one up or not, I have the final chapter planned but may change my mind last minute (sorry for my indecision!) Let me know what your thoughts are, if you'd be interested in more or think this is a good place to leave it ^^ Is there anything you're still wanting to read in this story? Anything you've been craving or waiting patiently for? Please let me know, I'm a sucker for requests <3
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


	25. Game Over

_Six Months Later_

“Three, two, one… posted!” Eren sang, throwing his hands up into the air in celebration. _Hope and Strength: Attack on Titan Playthrough #4_ just went live onto YouTube alongside _Eren and Levi versus Underground: SC Indie Game Challenges_ and _Mikasa Does Our Voiceover._

“Great, let’s go get dinner,” Levi rolled out of his office chair and threw on a jacket. Eren had gotten him a new patch for every month they had together and even sewed them on himself (only pricking his finger a few times before getting the hang of it). He tried to seek out patches that memorialized a part of their relationship. There was a red YouTube play button and a little gaming controller. Some of them came from obscure inside jokes like the jelly fish patch and the little button that stated ‘ _’pat all the dogs’_.

“What are you hungry for?” Eren asked, grabbing his own light jacket and abandoning his computer.

“Whatever you’re hungry for,” Levi answered, as always, stepping out of their dual office.

“Hey, my favorite duo,” Erwin found them in the hallway, wearing a huge smile on his face as always. “Congrats on reaching three million subscribers! That’s _insane_ considering the time span you’ve been working in.”

“It’s all about consistency, persistence, and content,” Levi answered, giving Eren a high five without even looking at them.

It’s how they’d become: so beautifully in sync. Eren loved it. They’d had their ups and downs in the short few months, but always came out the other end a little stronger and wiser.

Eren learned that Levi had his own definition of clean and got a little tense when things were left a mess. He often forgot about taking care of himself in times of stress and needed a little reminding, and a little pampering to take his mind off things. Levi learned that Eren wasn’t a morning person whatsoever and that he was as stubborn as a mule. Still, somehow, the two always forgot about the silly little things and realized what was more important. Sometimes it took Mikasa as a mediator to call out both of their shortcomings and other times, the answers came after a few hours apart.

“We’re all going to Hange’s place for drinks, pizza, and a movie if you two are interested. I think they’ve invited everyone we know, plus a few strangers as well,” Erwin offered.

Eren turned to Levi with big, puppy dog eyes and Levi couldn’t say no. “We’ll follow you there. Can’t say I’ve ever been to Hange’s place.”

Erwin beamed, “It’ll be fun. Let’s get going before the food’s all gone.”

The trio left Survey Corps in a bit of a rush and Eren was nearly bouncing in his seat. He’d come to love everyone who worked at Survey Corps as well as his fellow YouTubers. He texted Mikasa on the way, checking to see if she was attending as well.

“Mikasa’s going too,” Eren reported once he’d gotten a text back.

“They really did invite everyone…” Levi smiled a little. He was probably excited to see his sister again.

Mikasa moved out two months after the convention, though she didn’t go too far. She moved in with Sasha, whose building was a fifteen-minute walk down the block. The two seemed overjoyed to finally act like a real couple instead of sneaking around. She kept up her YouTube channel, now with Sasha involved as the official taste tester of all the healthy dishes. It added in a little humor and Eren always caught Levi watching them the second she uploaded a new one, smiling like he was holding onto a secret.

It was one of the happier things Eren learned about Levi, he was sentimental and had a big heart hidden underneath his aloof exterior. He gave his all to the things and people he loved. He was more observant than he looked and tended to surprise Eren with little acts of romance and kindness, like bringing home the meal he’d been silently craving, charging his cameras when Eren forgot, or bringing him a cup of tea before bed.

Eren pulled out his vlogging camera and positioned it to include both of them. Levi continued to focus on driving while Eren talked. “We’re on our way to Hange’s for dinner and a movie! I think a lot of us are going to be there, so it should be fun. Are you excited, Levi?”

“Thrilled to bits,” Levi spoke with his usual flat tone, making Eren laugh a bit.

“Wow, you sound so enthused,” Eren returned, keeping his tone flat as well for comedic effect. “Anyway, I’ll bring you guys with me, I’m sure it’ll be a blast.”

They travelled outside the city and both Levi and Eren were looking around the area. “They live out _here_?” Levi wondered aloud, glancing around at all the giant, fancy places with five-stall garages and pools out back. It wasn’t easy to get the best look at the houses in the dark, but it was sure that they surely weren’t cheap.

“Where did you think they lived?” Eren asked, staring wide-eyed at the mansions before them with manicured lawns and fancy lighting.

“In a hole… or a cave, maybe.”

“A hole or a cave?” Eren snorted. “I never see them leave Survey Corps, I just thought they lived under their desk or something.”

Erwin pulled into a long driveway that led to a Victorian styled manor painted white and grey. Huge, flowered bushes dotted the perimeter of the house and leafy vines grew up the walls. “It’s oddly suiting,” Eren decided as they parked amongst several other vehicles in the circle drive.

“Agreed,” Levi replied, following Erwin up to the front door.

Erwin let himself in as if he’d done it a million times and the crowd greeted them all with happy hello’s and waves. The interior was just as elegantly kooky as the exterior with purple-painted walls, white sofas with fluffy cushions, and a huge television hung on the wall with every gaming system imaginable. One of them possibly predated Eren. Book shelves of intermixed movies, video games, and books took up an entire wall of the living area. Eren could feel Levi inwardly cringing at the disorganization of it all, which made him laugh to himself.

“Pizza’s on the coffee table! Help yourselves!” Hange yelled to them over the sound of a blender.

Eren and Levi sat on the couch with Isabel and Farlan, who were going over movie choices. The two were as happy as ever together, and tended to pull Eren and Levi into their shenanigans as well. It wasn’t unusual for them all to get into some kind of Twitter debate much too late at night, full of snarky comments and sassy responses.

Erwin took a seat on one of the armchairs, grabbing a slice of pizza and watching the movie choice debate with a smile. Eren grabbed two slices for himself and Levi, pitching in his opinions as well.

Mikasa, Sasha, Armin, Marco, and Jean came in as a crowd, apparently all having carpooled together. They filled the space and began the dull roar of multiple conversations. Ymir and Krista were quick to arrive after them, Ymir looking a little flustered with little lipstick smudges all over her face. Connie arrived last, having taken his motorcycle. Luckily for him, he’d never have to deal with helmet hair.

Marco and Jean were planning a trip overseas to meet with a foreign gaming company and do a little sight-seeing. Jean promised daily vlogs of the entire trip and Marco assured them he’d bring back international candies for all of them to try. He hoped they could all get together and make a video of it.

Armin had been working with Krista on a new cosplay series which was taking off. Ymir photographed several series of the two of them flaunting different character styles and didn’t mind showing off the photos to their friends. Both of them started a channel together, filming makeup tutorials of different characters and all the tips and tricks. They were strangely addicting.

Connie, inspired by the convention, worked harder than ever at his own personal channel. He shared his life stories, funny events that had happened through his lifetime, and the awkward happenings that constantly seemed to follow him. Eren found himself crying at one video in particular and had to call Connie the second after he’d finished watching it to praise him for revealing such an embarrassing story online.

Overall, things seemed to be going well for all of them which made Eren happy. Not too long ago, he was a kid living in isolation with only his computer screen as a link to his real life. Now, he was surrounded by his most cherished friends and, luckily enough, the boyfriend of his dreams.

* * *

How long had it been since Levi took a night off to watch a movie with a crowd of his friends? Too fucking long. He’d forgotten how pleasant and happy it was to not worry about work and focus on the joy radiating around the room. With Eren around, all the puzzle pieces of his life seemed to slowly fill in and fit together beautifully, creating a portrait of what he’d always been reaching for.

They lowered the lights and turned on the film. It was a mix between an action, a comedy, and a thriller created by a YouTuber he’d met before. While it was actually a well-done piece, it was still hard to focus. Eren curled up next to him sweetly, completely unaware of just how adorable he was.

How’d he get so damned lucky? He’d likely never truly find out, but was thankful for it all anyway.

Farlan was apparently just as distracted. He leaned over to whisper, “Are we going running tomorrow morning?”

“As long as it isn’t a part of some kind of makeshift therapy,” Levi smirked back.

Farlan looked between Levi and Eren and shook his head, “Nah, I don’t think you need that anymore.”

Isabel slapped Farlan’s thigh and hissed, “Would you two stop it? We’re watchin’ a movie here!”

“Brat,” Farlan joked, flicking her on the forehead.

At the half-way point of the film, they paused it for a margarita break. Hange passed them around room while everyone got out their cameras to vlog. They all looked like a bunch of loons, talking to themselves through their cameras and filming over people talking to their cameras.

“Levi, what do you think of the movie?” Eren asked, pointing the camera at him.

“Not bad,” Levi decided, unable to give a detailed response due to his inability to focus on it for too long. “Impressive, actually.”

Eren turned the camera back on himself, “There you have it, folks. Professional movie critic over here.”

“We should make a movie,” Krista spontaneously burst. “We could totally do it!”

“What would it be about?” Armin asked, honestly curious.

She thought for a moment until Mikasa piped up, “Attack on Titan.”

“Yes!” Connie burst, jumping up from his seat. “That’d be so _epic_!”

“An action-thriller-drama about soldiers, titans, and a mysterious secret!” Sasha started to get excited too.

“I mean… it’s not impossible…” Erwin smirked, rubbing at his chin. “We’ve got the equipment.”

“And the brains,” Hange raised her hands.

“And the skill,” Eren grinned, looking at Levi with bright eyes. He seemed to be waiting for some kind of response from Levi.

A movie based off of his own creation? Could it get any better than that? Were his friends seriously considering this gigantic project? “It sounds great,” Levi finally got out. “It’d be really amazing.”

“Then it’s a go,” Erwin decided with a firm tone, “We’ve already got our main cast, I’ll pitch the idea to my boss on Monday. I have a feeling there won’t be any pushes against it. Attack on Titan merchandise is their biggest seller right now.”

With little conversations, all about how fun it would be, they resumed the movie and Levi watched it in a new light. He’d started his YouTube career with the passion for gaming and filming, unaware that it would blossom into everything he ever cared about. He paid attention to the camera angles, the dialog, and the mastered special effects. It was all things he’d taught himself to do on a bigger scale. Was it really that impossible?

The idea weighed on him as he drove home with Eren humming along to a song in the passenger’s seat. It stuck in his brain as they trailed up to their apartment. When Mikasa moved out, they’d managed to get all of Eren’s things put away neatly so it didn’t look like such a mess anymore.

Eren pulled him by the arm all the way to the bedroom until the two crashed into the blankets in a heap. They tangled together in a blissful cuddle and Eren smiled, “You’re thinking about that movie thing, aren’t you?”

“What gave me away?”

“You’ve been quieter than usual. Normally you’re pretty talkative.”

As oblivious as Eren typically seemed, he could be really astute when it mattered. “It’s not a bad idea,” Levi mused, staring up at the ceiling and then turning to look into Eren’s eyes. “We could do it.”

“We _will_ do it,” Eren grinned. “It’s my new dream.”

“Really? What was your old dream?”

“To meet you.”

Levi’s heart warmed and he reached up to ruffle Eren’s hair a little. “My dream was to give a piece of my mind to the kid that stole my username.”

“You know, I don’t think you ever did that. Though you did almost punch me in the face for groping Mikasa on accident.”

Both of them chuckled at the memory. It seemed like so long ago, yet not all at the same time. He’d never given much thought to dreams before Eren. Everything was a goal or a task. Eren turned those tasks into wishes and projects into dreams. He shined the sunlight on everything he and Levi did, giving his world new life.

“Then it’s _our_ dream,” Levi found himself saying, quietly yet honestly as ever. “I don’t want to do it without you.”

Eren pulled him a little closer and kissed him softly before deepening the kiss into something a little more tender and memorable. It was like sealing a promise. “I love our new dream,” he smiled, bumping his forehead against Levi’s. “And I love you.”

Whenever Eren said those words, it was game over. Levi dropped every thought, every doubt, and every fear. There was no more fighting or racing. His five 8-bit hearts were gone, given away to the green-eyed gamer he’d fallen for behind a computer screen. “I love you too,” he returned, earning himself another kiss from his beloved.

It was a new chapter, a new level, and a new beginning for the both of them. Levi gazed at the sun-kissed babe with big, tempting eyes that stared right back at him. It was going to be the most wonderful new chapter of his entire life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for joining me for this entire story. I am so thankful for every one of you and all the support you've given me throughout every chapter. It was so fun to write and I enjoyed every bit of it <3 If you're interested, feel free to check out my other works- I have lots of new things in store ^^ I'm getting quite sentimental over this story, so I'm going to post this in a hurry before I start sobbing over it (heehee). Thank you all so much again, you've made this a treat for me to write <3 
> 
> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)

**Author's Note:**

> If you have any questions, concerns, requests, suggestions or just want to chit-chat, you can find me on tumblr: [snakemittenswrites](https://snakemittenswrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Here’s a link to my personal blog as well!: [snakemittens](https://snakemittens.tumblr.com/)


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